Dragon Soul by Denis Đurović
by denis.d2505
Summary: A story of One souls story and destiny


36

Dragon Soul

By Denis Đurović

It was a nice day like any other, in the year long before any modern technology was present, when the bloody battles of medieval ages were across the globe fighting for land, power, and supremacy. One place on earth they weren't aware of was the place of dragons surrounded by sea. Whole different continent on which dragons were free to roam, live as they prosper and bare their young.

Prologue – Intro Chapter

But that's not our story. The story I am about to tell you starts not far from a village of Tenko where the local woodsman lives next to the forest he became fond of. It was a daily routine for the 26 year old woodsman to check the forest for any dead tree's to clear it up and send the logs to the village for some extra copper and silver coins with which he would buy necessities like clothes or candles for his little cottage located 80 feet away from the edge of the well know to the folklore Tenko's Prosperous forest.

His job was simple, keep the roads connecting the villages thru the forest clean and provide the Tenko village with enough wood for building, fireplaces and cooking. Though he was really good woodcutter he was really experienced at many different parts of biology of the healing herbs, plants that were eatable, not eatable and many other ways to track forest animals for hunting because he was a really good hunter.

While he was roaming the forest for any dead trees, he never cut down a tree that isn't sick because even a single healthy tree has some purpose. So he went for hours patrolling the woods for dead trunks or tree's that are going to die or are in bad health, and until he found one he was looking for, he would keep searching. He was like any middle aged man who minded his own business and he wasn't that much different from anybody else in the village. He was in some rough clothes and hard boots of a working man like many others wore; though there were not many that fancied themselves with some nice formal robes or clothes for special occasions like weddings and whole village gatherings. He was somewhat of a loner in his part, he didn't have any friends, his family died when he was 2 years old and he was forced to live at her mother's sister house which made him even more distanced and sad with the time that passed, he became disciplined and got a strong back to keep it in line thru the following years, from the weak 2 year old to the youthful and strong 16 year old. His now new ''mother'' he considered as a slave driver because he was mainly used as a servant to the house as he was an extra ''unplanned'' disturbance which will make their lives more miserable as it is.

So when he turned 18 he practically ran outside the house and went to grasp the world in his young hands. He spent every bit of time he had to himself roaming the woods in fascination and observing the animals that lived there so he learnt a lot about them and he learnt from local woodsmen and hunters how to hunt and live by yourself and support yourself alone in the woods. When he was finally rid of the cursed bunch of people that he was supposed to be calling family he knew what he must do. So he got busy, he gathered a lot of tree trunks and made himself a small cottage big enough for him to sleep under a dry roof and a fireplace to keep him warm and he was grateful for it. In the following years he became quite accomplished woodcutter and he took the job as one of the local forest's woodcutters and he was perfectly happy with that. He lived from the forest and did a forest a lot of good, mostly like equivalent exchange so to speak, you take some and you give some back.

Main Story –First Chapter

Life Saved in more Ways than One

Then everything changed one sunny day. He thought it will be as every other day content with wildlife and yet again alone that suited him, but with age he noticed he needed to belong somewhere, somebody to call family. To have a family... he thought, he thought about it for a while and then figured out that he was content by himself and that he doesn't need anybody and that his passing life is playing tricks on him, he was happy, and that was all that mattered, and yet the question kept popping in his head every day. Some days he really wanted to have somebody to talk to, to confine to them, ask comfort in bad days and yet there wasn't a single person in his life that mattered much or anybody that think likely of him, to the village folks he was just some no felling muscle bound body woodcutter with no manners, intelligence or any way of ''civilized'' life they had in village. With much thought in his head clouding what he has and thinking of what he needed he went to the forest for a daily routine which he learned from top to bottom and he knew where to look for possible bad health tree's and dead ones. While he was crossing thru the forest on his all marked and all memorized paths he saw something strange... In the middle of the road there were a lot of fallen trees and broken up branches, usually he's used to the idea that one tree fell and take with it one or more trees but broken to pieces branches from an impact he concluded that was really strange. He went thru the hole in the thick tree's and soon found himself in some would say a clearing with a small patch of grass like a big garden with watering hole. But that wasn't the thing he was looking for, he was looking for a thing or creature that destroyed half a dozen tree's and in the middle of the thought as he turned to the other side of the so called patch of grass towards the sound that came from that direction, he almost stumbled over his own feet as he saw something he couldn't believe that was real. In the agony of pain and resolution he saw an apparently badly injured dragon who laid 9 feet tall + his tail and neck length. By the first looks he knew that wounds were fresh and that dragon was exhausted from apparently long fight and flight to outrun the pursuer. He felt he must do something or else the creature will die in a lot of pain and agony from his not at first examination mortal injuries than mostly of infection and strain to his body. He ran around the forest known places to find as many disinfect and healing herbs as possible and gather as many equipment as needed to make the paste of it for him to clean the dragons wounds as much as possible and before they become infected. So he had to hurry. When he got back he faster than ever made the thick paste from many different herbs and slowly rubbed it in dragons wounds who on first glance at the dragon face was in more pain than in little relief, at some moments dragon tried from pain to get to his feet then stumbled back to unconsciousness for which he thanked the god because the dragon would from so much pain and agony slash him to pieces before it knew he was helping him, he knew that the dragon was male because he glanced at his sexual equipment and knew everything from start. It was possibly the territorial battle or a fight over a female as he thought nothing more for the dragon than an over sized animal which fights for his survival this very moment. He finished coating the wounds after cleaning them with water and some pain remover herbs so it was more bearable for dragon to endure and so he can rest. The next whole day he tended the dragon's wounds. And for the first time in about 36-48 hours the dragon regained consciousness but couldn't move from too much pain. He could just lightly tilt its head around not moving his neck because it was hurt. He looked at the man helping him with confusion and let out a single quiet groan. At which the woodcutter looked back at the dragoon with a reassuring look of him being taken care of and his injuries tended to. The rumbling in dragon's stomach confirmed the woodcutter that the dragon was hungry and he wasn't in any shape to hunt for his pray. Dragon was tired, hungry and in pain... woodcutter has seen that he given up the will to fight the pain and waited for his death. But then unexpected dragon almost startled as the woodcutter approached in his field of vision and with the most reassuring look on his face said '' I'll take care of you no matter what, don't you dare die on me, I'll leave you alone for a bit ...'' and with that he left in the woods. Dragon was kind of confused for a while and he was trying to grasp the situation in which he now was. The sounds from the woodcutter's voice ringed in his head like a bad headache when he realized that he'll be back, that look on his face helped him a lot to make sense of things around him. Within the next hour he smelled something sweet around the air... he smelled it once , twice, trice and then it hit him... it was blood, his stomach rumbled and him senses tingled as he saw the woodcutter dragging the body of a killed buck...he wanted to move but he just couldn't, the pain was too much and woodcutter put his hand on his slowly lifting head and pressed it down... dragon was kind of puzzled why is he doing this, is he making him suffer, is he trying to get him mad, what was it... he slowly boiled inside as the woodcutter took his knife and cut of large chunk of meat from the buck's leg and presented him with a bloody steak... At that moment dragon realized that he didn't want him to move because he could easily reopen the wounds on the neck and get them infected... he slowly chewed the meat and swallowed it with great joy as he was getting fed though minutes ago he thought he would die from starvation or by infection... Meat chunks came one after another until he was full and satisfied... he looked at the woodcutter with a thanking look in his eyes and went to sleep. 5 days passed from when the woodcutter found him and helped him get better and saved him because he would die on his own without the help... he was grateful and dragon knew that woodcutter knew that he was grateful. After 5 days of tending to the wounds woodcutter saw that dragon healing progressed good with the herbs and came to a conclusion that dragon wound regeneration was better than in any other human, he saw that wounds completely closed and was willing to try to make the dragon try to stand though he knew it was risky to make him come to his feet at this stage, but he must be back as fast as possible to his own kind on his own. Woodcutter took the chance when dragon was sleeping and used the rope at key points of the dragon's body and some of other tree's as leverages and tried to make him get up. Dragon woken up startled and jumped to his feet while woodcutter was holding him as with much brute strength as possible to keep him leveled up to support his own weight. And finally dragon realized what he was going for and stood solidly on his 4 now shaky aching feet. Then he heard the gasp from the tired woodcutter as he lay on the ground catching his breath. After a few hours of slowly walking, dragon was back to his feet in no time and was now solidly walking with no help. Woodcutter knew that if dragon makes it this far he can go back to his own kind because his wings weren't damaged or bruised as much as his body which broke his fall. Woodcutter sat there to stare at the magnificent creature he saved from certain death and felt proud of his skills to help a creature this big on his own, it was a 9 feet tall dragon dark purple in color as his scales reflected the sunlight against his hide, he had 2 big blue eyes that at first interested him more than creatures colossal body as he saw in them a good kind of creature, intelligence beyond the first glance, his wings were beautiful cowered in scaly muscles and long softer than birds and surprisingly lighter purple feathers. He even had some kind of fangs going thru the feathers, he didn't at first know that they were actually stabilizing the wings during flight, he had 2 elongated like human arms with 4 fingers with claws and 2 forelegs that you would actually found on a horse without the hoofs and with 3 giant claws which kept him from sliding on soft ground. His head was the most fascinating thing to the woodcutter; he saw a dragon muzzle, large set of razor sharp teeth and the sea blue almost lining with silver eyes like any reptile had without this particular color... And with that he gathered his things and waved goodbye... He was heading back to the forest when he felt a small tug from behind pulling him, when he turned around, he saw the dragon not wanting him to go. Woodcutter turned and told him '' you can go back to your own kind now, rest for a bit and then fly home.'' And with that he patted the dragon's muzzle, turned and left. When he was heading back from the woods to his cottage he saw 3 hunters searching for him, one yelled he found him and all gathered up asking question where has he been, what happened and so on... Woodcutter said he was on a survival trip in the woods and that he is sorry for not letting anyone know what's going on... One hunter noticed a full bag of medical supplies equipment, bow, and bloody knife and figured out what's going on without arousing any attention of the woodcutter. The hunter told him to go back to his cottage and that they will go back as soon as they collect their things, naturally he lied to get the woodcutter of their back and went deeper in the forest looking for a reason for who was so much healing herbs, blood and hunting because it was too much for any one person and animal is most likely to be killed on the site to end its suffering. When the woodcutter was out of the forest he looked back concerned that something was wrong and when he headed back to his cottage he almost jumped in place and turned to direction of a roar and a man's yell. He looked back for a few moments having no clue what to do, should he run towards or from it... he was in a dispute, and right then at that moment he saw the already injured but mostly sore and healthy dragon burst from the woods after him. He stood like frozen on spot not knowing what to feel or what to do and he quietly just looked at the massive creature that was running towards him... After a moment that felt like a second or maybe two he found himself in the clutches of the young dragon and passed out as they left the ground and dragon leapt for the skies. What felt like eternity he slowly regained his consciousness and started squirming in the clutches of the dragon grasp and when he looked down he froze immediately from the height at which they now were. Dragon felt the squirming and the tight grasping of his claws and tendons tight as he looked back at the man that saved his life. He slowly descended down towards the small lake and let go of the man and went on his own business while he left the woodcutter alone. Woodcutter was shaking and didn't know where he was; he was confused, cold and didn't recognize anything except the dragon that left him alone on the lake. He clutched together in order to keep himself warm and drank some water from crystal clear lake, his mind wandered off and he was startled at the triumphant return of the friendly dragon with his face holding his latest pray. He dropped it to the ground and grabbed with his muzzle the whole foreleg ripping it apart from the body and throwing it at the now confused and shivering man who was startled at the action but he managed to grasp it. Woodcutter figured out that he was repaying him for what he done to save him and this was his way of saying thanks by feeding him. Good thing he always carried his trusty small woodland hatchet on his belt for such this occasion... he chop some of the dry tree's branches and set it up for a fire and was trying to get it to light up with all too well known way of rotating the pointed stick at the sawdust he found near the dry tree, dragon saw his efforts to make a fire and lend a hand so to speak. He burst his flames at the fireplace that send the woodcutter jumping in the opposite direction from the fire and them he looked back at the dragon like he was expecting thanks or something. Woodcutter thought about telling him that wasn't wise for apparently intelligent creature and that he could have hurt him but his anger suppressed as he stood near 5 times bigger creature with claws, razor sharp teeth and brute force of 50 horses put together and said ''thanks'' in a quiet voice loud enough for dragon to hear . He cooked the meat and was now fed up good from nice roasted meat and hydrated enough from a cool drink of the lakes water. After that he went to sleep but it was in the middle of the night when the dragon awakened and decided to move on...almost awakened and groggy woodcutter for not having much sleep he saw the dragon take him and carry him from the ground to continue their journey and went back to sleep as the cool air washed his face. When the woodcutter awakened they were still flying over the ground full of hills, mountains, pastures and lakes. He was so happy to experience the flight that only birds can and apparently dragons can. He watched the passing scenery as the time flew and felt a bit uncomfortable in the clutches of a dragon. He tried to point out to the dragon that he lands nearby. Dragon thought he needed to go or something and immediately landed on a small pasture. After a while of stretching up from his sleep woodcutter 'asked' more like pointed and gestured if he could ride on his back instead in his clutches. Dragon found out what he was up to and allowed him to climb his back. In no time they were back in the sky and he was laughing at which the dragon was puzzled but the woodcutter knew that he was probably the first Dragon rider ever in the history of mankind and with a satisfied smile he looked at the puzzled dragons face and gestured that everything is ok and that he can continue the flight undisturbed. With that they flew several hours not really knowing how much time has passed until they could smell the ocean nearby. Woodcutter has caught the smell of the ocean and was interested of what it was, he never left the land and his only experience was with large lakes and rivers. When he saw a large lake, he thought it must be that, but as they flew closer and closer he knew it was no lake but a continent of water and a word popped in his mind ''ocean... I never thought I'll see it but here I am riding a dragon, flying in the skies with a view many nobles would die for just to see glimpses off.'' Woodcutter absorbed the feeling of being alive for the first time after a long time and felt joy beyond compare to his past experiences. Dragon noticed his joy and went on course tour to show how fast he can go and how maneuverable he is during high speed. They flew to their destination closer and closer and woodcutter noticed dragoon became more vigilant, happy he's almost home but yet again careful not to make any other dragon in vicinity notice him and the man on his back. As they passed the territory dragon loosened up and woodcutter knew they were safe now and not in any real danger... then it hit him, this dragon below him was a scout of their own kind that is his herd or clan, and he got here and got attacked by at least 2 dragons patrolling it, because there is no way they were able to outmatch this young dragon on his own either in strength or in speed. As the time passed they were now over the ocean and there was nothing else but the ocean... He still watched the blue water and saw dolphins, whales and many other fish right below the surface. And then the distant land came into the view. At first the both looked at it, dragon happy and man so interested that he wanted to go faster to it... in his surprise so did the dragon and they flew there in amazing speed and when they got almost to the land he slowed down to show the human his home. Woodcutter was amazed when he saw a spectacle of a land unlike any other in the world he thought. It was like a big peninsula covered by 3 sides by sea with so big ridges over the sides of this land that coming by sea was not an option. When they got over the ridge and close to the ground he saw something more amazing, thousands of square miles of pure pastures, forests, lakes and rivers, it was truly the land by no compare to any other. And from the air on a distant ridge which was somewhat levitated from the rest of the land was a fairly plain land so there were lakes, forests and pastures on it. The land ended up connected with the real mountain that he lost track of in the clouds and he though this is a perfect place for dragons... there was no way here thru the main land and sea was limited full of pointy rocks which would slash larger ships to pieces. But there was room for some little frigates or boats that would want to get here though not recommended because it was risky for them and their boat. He glanced at the peak of that elevated plain land overseeing the rest of the valley and he saw bright light... as they went closer to it he saw something amazing. Another dragon but more like 10-11 feet tall covered in scales much like the dragon he saved with same features but one distinct feature caught his eyes on him. he was much like the color of yellow with a bit of orange that resembled gold in the morning sun as they both dragon and man watched the I guess you can call him Alpha of the clan. Their leader returned the glance at the two of us with a curious look and kept the watch of the valley as did I and saw some other dragons hunting for the clan to keep everybody well fed. Shortly after we landed at the middle of the largest gathering of dragons I have seen in my whole life. Around 12 dragons including those I saw hunting plus Alpha not counting the young ones were rushed to the wounded dragon to greet him back as they thought he was dead. When they saw the man on his back they were curious and stepped closer to smell the strange creature. I slid from the dragon's back and landed on my feet. There were a lot of hissing sounds and small roars like they were conversing between themselves what to make of me, a friend or a foe, I was a stranger to them and they were a little uneasy to get close to the two of us but one dragon did, I guessed she must be his mate or family, even after she saw me she just smelled me and asked with a curious look the injured dragon who brought me here. He let out some more noises and looked at me. That was a sign I recognized as follow me and so I did... we soon found ourselves at some small lake not far from the living area it seems, he wanted me to relax and absorb where I am, what's happening and one question keep popping out ''why am I here? What will they do with me...'' After much thought we both fell asleep together, I very near his body because it was cold in the open and he was really warm and didn't mind. Then all of a sudden me and my friend dragon jumped from our sleep at the biggest Roar I have ever heard, my friend made that sign to follow him and so I did... when we got there all were lined up to listen to what the alpha has to say... we arrived at some strange place. It was stone steps which lead to like square foundation with 4 stone pillars emerging from the 4 corners. It was 12 m2 in diameter and there stood the clan leader Alpha. He broke the silence by apparently asking the dragon about me. Why am I here, why did he bring me here, then my friend spoke to him though I didn't understand, something told me that he was defending me and that I saved his life. During the story Alpha curiously looked at me and so did many others as I glanced over them from the astonishment of the story, I wondered. Then the Alpha took the step towards me, I stayed still not afraid nor reluctant, more like satisfied I'm here not fearing the predators around me, then the Alpha I think tested me by showing his teeth at me and roared, to his surprise I didn't even flinch or got scared and because predators smell the fear in smaller creatures he saw none in me. He got back to his place on the foundation and spoke something to my friend dragon and we left the premises back to the lake I like to call our getaway spot or new home, I never liked to be in large groups of humans but I wanted to be with dragons because something was telling me this is where I belong. The dragon that greeted us without hesitation once more came to us by the lake and spoke to the dragon, during that I took a so called spear of a branch and started fishing the old fashioned way. By my surprise I was startled to see the new dragon coming near me, lie down beside me and muzzled me to look at her... as I looked at her eyes same blue color but with no silver lining which complimented her blue scales and slim figure with fit body without destroying her figure I knew she was female. At first look in her eyes I knew she's thanking me for saving the dragon and rubbed her head gently on to me. After that she looked at the saved dragon beside her and left without a sound back to the others. I wasn't sure what will happen to me besides being eaten if I'm not wanted but I was pretty sure that my friend will help me out if it comes to that. I thought about it constantly... what if the Alpha personally wants to dispose of me, get rid of me, even my friend dint have that much strength to hold him off and I would probably willingly stepped towards him to save my friends life from being killed by his own... and with those thoughts I fell asleep silently while my friend kept me warm. When we woke up it was still dark I wasn't sure what just happened but I seen the look at my friends face and knew it's another gathering, by the looks of sun rays near horizon over the sea I saw its moments from sunrise. So I thought it's going to be like a job giveaway... some will tend to younglings, some would hunt, and some would scout but nothing happened when we got there. They waited for some time until I saw the sun just rise above the sea level I felt strange when the sun rays shined on me. I looked to other dragons, they kept their eyes closed and concentrating of some sort, I heard something and turned to the direction of the sound, I thought I heard a human language from one of the dragons, as I watched in confusion Alpha stepped forward and started to speak in human language on my surprise.

''U who saved one of our kind, we are all grateful for it, but were confound why would a human do something like this to that a kind not his own'' at that I thought and said ''it wasn't for my sake, it was for the sake of life, no creature different from us should die in pain and agony if it can be helped, I saw that there was no reason not to help him and jumped to help as fastest I could, I knew he would surely die on his own so I got some herbs and cleaned the wounds so they don't get infected and fed him until his strength came back that he can get up to his feet and fly himself home. After we got back I saw his true family, all those who greeted him when he came back were and are his family and just for that I'm proud and happy that he has a family to come to.'' After a moment of silence from all the dragons and staring eyes, Alpha spoke '' that was one of many great qualities dragons carry with them, they take from the wild just enough to survive and give more in return as I heard from the Kean... the dragon you saved'' I looked back at Kean my friend and he looked back at me and said ''I'm really grateful for what you have done, I thought I'll never see my sister and my family again and you made it happen, at that time my will was sound I knew I would die and just waited for nature to take its course, and then you came and helped me...'' I thought for a bit what to say and Alpha spoke again '' you have shown us something that never existed in humans though we had encountered them, they all wanted to conquer our land and we have extinguished their lives, they never even tried to understand us, their mind was set on conquer and they saw no reason in talking to us or understanding us'' then a moment of silence was broken when Kean told me '' but you are special I have taken you here to show you how special you are'' I was kind of confused when Alpha spoke ''yes that is one other matter we need to discuss, you see you have all the qualities of a dragon as much I've seen and heard from Kean, but the other matter is that you eradiate an different aura about your soul... You see we think you are a dragon soul trapped in a body of a human...'' with that my eye's got wide as I thought of what I just heard. Alpha continued '' we think when a dragon died his soul was set free very near the place you were conceived, and the soul found its shelter in another body of a different creature'' with that I recalled the story from 7 months before I was born that's they killed a dragon roaming near the village and that it was dragged to the emperor himself to examine the beast as they thought it was the last of his kind. And I said '' there was a dragon killed 7 months before I was born next to our village, you think I was that dragon?'' with a confused look I stared at Alpha who said '' possibly you could have been , and by that I have a proposition to ask you, you see maybe you were born a human but you can be a dragon again... where we now stand is a sacred shrine that holds magical power every month, in sunrise its charging and when the sun elevates from the horizon in her full beauty this shrine has enormous amount of magic power stored inside, magic power stored here and now is making you understand what are we saying otherwise we would just make a lot of not familiar sounds to you'' as I thought about the proposition I was thinking about my past life, what will I leave behind, and as much as I thought about it I didn't have kids, I didn't have a wife, and I don't have any family to leave behind, and here I would have all that and maybe more, my own family one day. I said with not even a glimpse of reluctance that I want to become a dragon. And with that Alpha stood with his closed eyes in the middle of the shrine as I felt the power raise and it started to become hard to breathe. I expected a bolt of lightning or at least some strange light or mystical glow or something. And as the sun rose for its full glory over the horizon I was startled at how much power was now in the air and as he looked at me I felt I couldn't breathe and then something that startled me more than anything in the world happened, my so called friend bite me across my whole chest, sinking his teeth in my arms and hearth that I felt stop pounding and turned my head toward his eyes scared like never before that I would die and that he betrayed me... But as I watched closely I saw reassurance in his eye that everything will be ok, that I am not going to die. As he lessened the grip on me and slowly and carefully withdrew his teeth from me I fell to my knees and stared at the holes in me from the teeth, by my surprise there was not a single drop of blood not even on Kean's teeth... then Alpha spoke ''by your agreement you will become a dragon, one of us and will be accepted in our clan, but what we do not know is what kind of soul is trapped inside your body and we cannot tell you what kind or type of dragon you will become'' and with that I seen his sky blue eyes light up in his stare at me and I felt so much pain in my body that I sprawled on my expanding body and felt my body become taller, larger, my tail pushed out, neck elongated and my face pushed onwards into a muzzle and I passed out from the pain. When I finally woke up I think 15 min after the transformation started I felt the magic slowly fading from the air, I couldn't move my now new and awkward body because it was too heavy and some joints weren't responding well at my commands. So I satisfied just lying there thinking about what just happened, I found out that my now new nose was more sensitive and that I can smell around 20 new smells I knew and around 100 that I don't know. Smells from the dragons I knew instantly, ocean, grass, water, and a new smell human with a smell of dragon but the dragon smell overpowered the smell of human as my transformation completed and I found out that it's my own smell. I slowly opened my eyes and saw that my eyes were in front like in most dragons, because predators have to have a fix on their pray at all times, and numbness of my joints slowly faded but there was still much pain and I couldn't just stand and prance around like others, when I slowly opened my eyes Alpha was in front of me and while my sight adjusted I saw clear vision with much more lively colors, objects sharpened and I could even detect the bugs on the ground so small it was hardly visible if you're not watching it directly. Alpha said '' and now you are one of us, join us and be with us thus we are now your family and you are a part of us '' with that he lifted my head from the ground with his neck while Kean and his sister helped me to my feet. I was standing on my feet, on now four feet though two so called legs were actually longer arms with the capacity of holding my own body steady and walk on them, while I was still standing still shaking from pain I noticed something, I was mostly blue with a hint of white with all dragon features much like Kean has and then he said I have his eyes but more blue with silver, I also noticed that my neck was a lot more flexible now and I tried to turn to the back and successfully examined my now new body and I almost stumbled to the ground as I saw wings and body slender like the Kean's sister, then I looked back at Alpha with a question in my eyes and Alpha said '' yes as you already noticed you're a beautiful young female dragon, and you're the most beautiful dragon I've ever seen'' at that I slowly lie down on to the ground and thought '' a dragon soul trapped inside me was a female, what will I do now.. '' I raised to my feet and tried to speak my own language when only sounds that came from my mouth were hisses and small roars but he understood them which I found confusing I wanted to say ''what will I do now?'' almost instantly he said ''you speak as a dragon now, though you think we speak in your language that is the part of the spell. When you learn our language, language spell will be broken and you won't even know the difference that something changed.'' And with that I stood by my own now four legs with a body full of new found power and joy and started walking towards Kean and as I looked at the other dragons who were looking at me they slowly started to approach and greet me as a welcome to the clan. Alpha proudly stayed at his place as a leader and smiling said the ceremony was over and that we can go on our ways back to our families.

End of chapter one

Chapter Two

The Life of a Dragon

For the first few days I was having trouble even walking as a dragon, I had to unlearn the pattern of walking as a human because it was no longer possible to walk as one, and to learn how to walk using my now new two forelegs plus two new elongated arms much more like feet but still able to grasp things with my four claws on each of them. I had a lot of support from Kean and his sister Sheela that nicely introduced herself almost instantly when I became one of the dragons. They tried to show me how to walk, at first it was easy to catch the movement of how to walk but it was really hard to actually do it... They smiled whenever I fell from my clumsy feet. I was getting frustrated, how can they expect me to be a dragon if I can't even walk as one, they immediately noticed I'm getting depressed and said some comforting words on how I will get it soon enough and that I can't expect miracles over night, though I'm maybe a dragon now I wasn't born as one and wasn't taught as one from the start. It was all true of course I never even thought that I of all people will actually get to see a dragon and yet alone become one, so I considered myself the luckiest person, creature on the face of the globe. After a few days of practice and hard work I finally managed to walk right for more than an hour and not fell to the ground. As soon as I began to walk properly as any dragon should, I felt relief; I thought I really can be a dragon. But Kean and Sheela weren't just about over with me, as much as I feared there is still leaping, running and much more basics. In just a day or two I mastered sprinting and leaping and I was happy, and so were my friends as my so called new dragon training is paying off. We took a little break from the training and I mustered my courage to come with Kean and Sheela to the rest of the clan, as we went my courage faltered slowly but steadily, and when we were almost there I felt a surge of insecurity and asked Kean and Sheela could I go back because I'm scared of what they will think of me, and how should I react in the company of so many dragons because I was alone all my life and even though I felt secure and I felt that I belonged with them I was still uneasy with large groups of humans or dragons alike. They looked at me and Kean said '' everything will be fine, you are one of us now and we will treat you as one as well'' and then Sheela said '' yes there is nothing to be afraid of, it's not like they are going to jump on you when they see you '' and with a smile they looked at me, for the first few seconds I felt like I'm getting just scared over nothing and that I have my friends just beside me, so I looked back and commented with a big smile '' yes, ok but you two better be ready to save me if it comes to that Sheela '' and with a small laugh us three ventured in the heart of the clan. As we came to the entrance, so to speak of the clan's home, a lot of looks went from their conversations back at me, Kean and Sheela, though I think I was the one they were looking at, and I felt uneasy like being stared at over something I did and wasn't guilty of. After a few moments they still wondered how am I doing as a dragon and went back to their conversations. Tense feeling of when we came disappeared and I joined the company of some other dragons with Kean and Sheela. Then something happened that I won't soon forget of how embarrassed I was at the moment, we actually never came to this topic as there was no need for it at the time, one of the dragons asked me about my name, and while I was standing there like an idiot I said I'm not really sure yet and that I didn't really thought about it. Even Kean and Sheela forgot to ask me and they felt a bit guilty for bringing me in this situation without asking me about my name. But the truth is that I had no name, from when I was little nobody used my name to call me, they just shout out ''hey Melissa boy'', or ''rag boy'' and many other names I won't mention of, when I finally grew up and got my own place at my little cottage. When I got my finally desired profession as a woodcutter, I went with woodcutter as my nickname as there was no real need for my real name and soon put it behind me like everything about my past. To think that I for 26 years of my life never used my real name was something I never thought of or wanted to remember. After a few hours I went back to our little spot next to the lake to think about my life and about an appropriate name for me, of course it now had to be a female name for a young female dragon. At the end of the day Sheela came to check on me... she said that Kean was asked to go hunting for the clan, and she asked '' so did you find any good name for yourself, that suits just you and only you?'' with a small smile I returned her stare with an insecure look and said '' I'm not really sure, I have some suggestions but I don't know if they are appropriate...'' and right from when I finished my sentence she asked '' so tell me what are these names you might have, so I can say what I think of them'' with that I collected a few names and told her ''Layla, Veronah, and Adele'' after a few moments Sheela was thinking she said '' hmm these names doesn't suit you for who you are, though I kind of fancy Adele but it's too formal when you say it, hmm what about Adeline?'' I looked at her and said ''that would be an excellent name, thank you''. She then went back to the clan with a small shout high enough to tell me that she won't tell anyone about my name and that I should be the one to say it in front of them. With that I looked at my reflection in the blue water of the lake and said to myself '' Adeline, I like it and I think I'm going to keep it, it suits me just fine'' with that I went to sleep... when I woke up it was sunrise and a new day started already... in the distance I saw Kean coming to me. As I waited patiently for him to come, I took the liberty to wash up before we went anywhere so I jumped in the lake and exit as fast as I went in, because water was quite cold and I only needed to wash the layer of dust and filth collected on my scales, which I now found that it was interesting to call my skin scales instead of skin as everybody did. When Kean arrived he looked at me and asked ''so did you have enough time to found out your new name?'' I said '' yes I did, and Sheela helped me with the final touch to my name'' Kean eagerly asked ''so which one is it?'' I smiled and introduced myself and as a final touch I put myself in kind of a pose that suits me and describes just me for who I am '' you can call me Adeline, I'm glad to meet you'' and with that Kean smiled and said '' hmm Adeline its unique and new just what you need, and it suits you like it was just made for you'' then the reason came why he needed me to come with him '' I was asked to tutor you in flying...'' my eyes opened wide as I was terrified of me alone flying with no help to rely on ''... And don't worry I'll be here with you no matter what, it's actually simpler than walking you only have 3 limbs to control '' with a smile on his face I looked at him with a scared and frightened look. Then he told me follow him to the training ground for just this occasion. As I followed him I thought so much about crashing that I didn't see the bright side of this, I would fly alone in the sky with a view of nothing I ever seen before, completely independent of anybody's help, free to roam the skies as I see fit. And yet fear prevailed... as we finally came to the small pasture with a small ledge from which I could leap for the skies I saw that I wouldn't get hurt because of the soft ground below and the height is small enough that I could actually begin to fly from it. Kean then said '' so what are you waiting for... spread your wings and give it a try, oh and yeah for the first time just try to glide for a few times, so you can see that your wings can hold your weight''. As I went to the small ledge I wasn't sure about it, and I never actually tried moving my wings altogether, and as I tried Kean was looking at me with amazed look and curious at the same time, I asked him what's wrong... for a few moments he didn't say a word just looking at me. Then he said '' oh, sorry but I have to go see the alpha about something I forgot...'' and without much saying he started running in the direction of the clan home just to stop and tell me that I keep gliding for the whole first day as it was practice and if I later want to do more, I'm more than welcome to try. With that I slowly started spreading them and stopped for a moment to see my new wings and new limbs move. But as I turned I was amazed at their size and like no other wings I saw on any other dragon with my pose in which I am now was a sight to be measured with. I stood still looking at my wings; they were full of purple-white feathers with a lot on long fangs coming from the bones of my wings. As I was now reassured that I can fly with my fascinating wings, I leaped from the ledge to see that I fell to the ground almost instantly. I wasn't expecting that much force on my muscles in my wings that I wasn't prepared well. The second time I tried I actually GLIDED... with so much happiness I tried a few more times to see that it wasn't so hard and wanted to try even more, like try to lift myself from the ground to the sky. I tried the first time to give some swing of my wings as fast as I could and stumbled to the ground not sure what I did wrong, second time same result, and I started thinking how did Kean just leap to the skies with so much ease... while I was thinking about it I noticed during gliding that air resistance was the key under my feathers, that the lift from the air will hold me gliding but I need to slowly and powerfully swing my wings in an appropriate manner to get myself of the ground. And with that much information and eager excitement I tried to leap and fly to find myself with closed eye's swinging my wings slowly but powerfully. And when I opened my eyes so much joy rushed into my head that I was 14 feet of the ground that I started maneuvering like I was born to do this, I felt so alive just flying around my little polygon that I wanted the home clan to see it and started heading there. After what seemed like a blink to me I crossed over 2 miles without breaking a sweat and looked at the golden dragon shined all over from the sun that curiously looked up to see the new dragon who isn't supposed to be in the air... When he saw who it was he just smiled and started looking at me and following my movements with his blue eyes... after some time I decided to show the rest of the clan... mostly to Kevin and Sheela and started to gain speed as I clutched my wings a bit to gain more speed, as I saw birds do like hawks and so many other predator birds. At first Kevin was talking to Sheela and some other dragons on what he saw to be cut off in the middle of his sentence by a youngling that commented at what he saw in the sky, kids loved Adeline though they didn't know her name yet because she didn't get the chance to say it before they left to the training grounds for the test flight. At that moment Kean and Sheela looked at the figure flying to see me joyfully maneuvering in the sky, at that moment both started laughing and waving at me. I waved back of course but now a question appeared in my mind... How do I get down? With much thinking I was sure to drop on my forelegs then started a running maneuver to slow myself down, as I visualized it I started to slowly descend and with much ease land perfectly safe as I saw Kean and Sheela ran towards me. The moment they came they said almost simultaneously ''Wow'' and then Sheela commented '' you're a natural born flyer you know that?'' as I smiled back at her Kean said '' I thought I told you to stay at polygon for practice and yet you came here dazzling everybody and giving them a good show, who knew that you can master flying in just a few hours and we needed to babysit you for a few days before you were able to walk properly...'' with both smiles on both Kean and Sheela faces many other dragons joined the conversation and a youngling said '' your very pretty , what's your name ?'' and at that a lot more dragons if not all looked back at me as I smiled and said '' Hi everyone as you know I'm new and I haven't been around much because I was learning how to be a dragon... but as much as I learned I wanted to tell you my name that my good friends and I thought of which will suit me just fine...'' and then I said '' hi I'm Adeline, I'm happy to meet you all at last'' and everybody faces went from a plain curious look to a happy expression as the name suited me, and it was nice for such a beautiful female dragon as everybody thought and some even said it which others confirmed. After the fuss behind my name was over and everybody was glad I loosen up and was more sociable than before I found my place near Kean and Sheela in the clans home where everybody else slept. The next day I saw something strange on Kean and I asked him if he is feeling alright and he strangely looked at me and asked why I would say that... I pointed at his scales which now lost their purple color which was fading and their ability to refract sunlight on his not so shiny scales anymore... he looked at his scared body scales from the injuries he got and which Adeline then as a human helped him recover from and laughed... ''You don't know? ''

''Well let me tell you something... we dragons discard the skin with old scales when it becomes too small or scared as mine... So we can have our warmth better isolated from the outside coolness...'' then I looked at myself to see any signs of that I'm discarding my skin and felt relief as Kean told me that I won't change skin until I either grow or get an injury... and the Kean said something which made me kind of uneasy '' you are still a very young dragon by the looks of things maybe at max 5 years old and your growing into a more and more beautiful dragon by the month and you have been here for how much, nearly a month? Maybe even less and you have grown quite a bit since you were transformed and I didn't even see you eat all that much.'' I slowly checked my body to really find it bigger and more slender plus I had more muscles and yet the figure of a slender dragon stayed like my body wanted to stay like this, maybe the reason was that all of my muscles were progressing and growing equally as I became more active. I still sometimes think about the things I had as a human that couldn't even compare to this and I missed some very big parts of it as well... like having to cook every meal so the meat can get that smell of roasting in the fire and many other meals I had over the years, that actually was one of the things I found really disgusting with the dragons that they ate raw meat even though they were civilized and better by far from humans. When that thought appeared in my mind I asked Kean about it after the transformation was over and I was thinking about food. He just glanced over me and said '' when you try the meat you will tell me if it's disgusting or not... As you can see we have different stomachs than humans and we don't get diseases that easily because we have a good immune system, so you can hardly ever see a dragon younger than 130 get sick. And of course our sense of taste is different to; if you tried the blood of another animal as a human it would probably just feel in your mouth like a juice with a hint of metal in it. But to us blood is the variety of tastes ranging from a young doe or buck to a middle aged and old buck or doe, every meat we eat has something different in it, and you as you soon will found out that eating meat is nothing more than pleasure of getting fed and content for the rest of the week or 3-4 days at most.'' And after I tried it, it wasn't really bad; it had so much different tastes of so many different layers upon layers off under tastes if I can say so like this. And he was right after I ate I was feeling the warm pleasure of being fed and content to sleep while the meat slowly digest. After some time when I found out I can fly with great ease I was asked to go hunting with Kean and Sheela because they always worked in pair or in pairs of 3-4 dragons at once to hunt for the whole clan. I said eagerly that I will come and learn how they hunt the dragon way. While we were up in the air I followed Sheela where ever she went on a small distance and watched them work together to hunt the unsuspecting pray, the key was to get 2 animals at once, if one of the animals was snatched the rest of them would scatter and wait for danger to cease and return with caution fixated on the sky. While I saw them work I decided to help even if they didn't know what I was planning at the time. As they went for the kill I swooped down with them closing a small distance from them so they don't notice me and we all grabbed a kill in our mouths and claws and went again for the sky. Surprisingly the cow I swooped up during the hunt wasn't that heavy and it didn't strain my wings as much as I thought it would be. And then I joined the Kean and Sheela who were searching for me and when they turned at my yell, they laughed as they saw that I got the my own kill as well and that they won't have to do it again unless if it wasn't enough meat for everybody, I was pleased and so were they for helping me learn to hunt and seeing that I picked up their tactic very fast and with precise striking in place we all got a triumph trophy in our claws. As the time passed I became an excellent hunter in only a week's amount of time. Females were only in charge of getting the food to the clan and not much else except caring for their young or baring younglings, scouts who patrolled the vicinity of our clan's territory were all males and it was almost a full time job for them, Kean was not one of the scouts so he hunted to help the clan in any way he could as so we all did. The females, now her close friends and clan members gained their thrust in Adeline and they let her guard the younglings while their mothers were hunting or were gone somewhere. I at first didn't know how to react at the question if I would babysit the younglings and Sheela told me that it was one of the jobs of the females that they care for their young and that they care for others as much for their own. Next few days I was surrounded by at least 3 younglings who were joyfully playing near me... I of course watched over them as I thought about my young one day, the thought of my young made me happy, as any mother would. Then one of the youngling dragons came to me and stopped to watch me, I looked back into her eye's and said ''what's the matter dear'' she just said '' can you show me your wings I want to have one's like yours '' I just smiled and got up spreading my wings while the sun bathed the reflection of them and my scales fractured the sun in my full glory. The glimpses of the other two younglings soon turned to beautiful picture of a dragon in her full glory. And they ran to join their sister in staring. Of course some dragons saw the flashes of light and turned to see what was causing it, but as they did they stared as much as like the younglings. I folded my wings and said '' if you wish something really bad you just have to wait and in time you will get it '' after I rubbed their little muzzles with my muzzle I sat down while they continued to play... I noticed the older mothers glaring at me but when I noticed they quickly turned their heads like they were in conversation, at first I didn't know what to think of it. After a while Sheela came to me and said '' well I see you took your job very seriously, and I heard that you shown your feathers to one of the younglings'' at first I jolted my head when she said that but then I looked at the older dragons and knew '' they asked me to show them my feathers , I didn't know I'll make such commotion'' then Sheela burst in laugh and said '' darling they weren't angry or anything like that, they know that you will soon be ready for a mate, and that you will make a beautiful mother and make one male dragon very happy.'' At that I stared for a moment at her and thought about my mate... Then it hit me while she was saying I would make a dragon happy I noticed that she meant a specific dragon that she was happy with and so am I, after I collected my thoughts I asked her '' I noticed that's you very much care about Kean, and I like him very much as a friend and ...'' at that I stopped but Sheela added '' and you love him more than that, more than just a friend, and don't worry he feels the same but he's not quite ready to make a move, and as I can see neither are you...'' at that I asked her '' why do you entrust me your brother like that? I'm not even a dragon born and yet you have always been so nice to me beside the fact I saved him, others are very nice to me too, I'm not used to being recognized for my virtues, I was always a loner from the start of my life and I had little experience in kindness where I had none.'' At that Sheela just watched me and said

'' _maybe you were a dragon before and you are one now yet again, and it doesn't change the fact that your good in heart, maybe you think less of yourself but we sure don't, we know to appreciate the dragon by who he or she is not by looks like most humans do, by its heart, the decisions you make, actions you take, your attitude towards life , and most of all right to live the dream where you are happy with what you are, not of any importance what form you have, human or dragon alike_''

as she finished I thought hard about what Sheela just said, and said '' are you sure I'm the right dragon mate you would be comfortable with if I was with your brother'' then Sheela nodded and said '' the only right dragon for him'' as we finished what we both had to say about our feelings and deep thoughts we saw some pure purple with a hint of blue dragon coming toward us and as he got close we both recognized him and ran to him to compliment his now new scales that have grown under now discarded gray skin, we helped him get rid of the rest of the old skin and he thanked us both. And as we went back to the clan's home I looked at the now young dragon male with a fresh new scales in front of me I couldn't stop wondering if they were meant to be together and how his scales look so alive now... They went back and few dragons made few curious looks and compliments about his new scales, we went back to sleep. The next day when we all woke up there was some commotion around one of the females, when we got there we saw one of the younglings not feeling very well and was feverish, at the sight of the young one being sick they all went around our pasture and our land to look for herbs and plants of any kind to help the young. Kean and Sheela asked me to hurry with them but I said I'll stay here and see what the situation is with the young one, they nodded and left to make their own search for herbs. As I stayed, sad mother was staring at me as I asked her could I feel the temperature and check something, mother of the young dragon nodded when she said '' please make him feel better he's getting worse'' with a stuttering voice full of worry and sadness. As I put my nose under his own small muzzle I saw that was a fever of some sort but it wasn't from heat, so the next conclusion confirmed my suspicion when I made the young dragon vomit up the rest of his launch from yesterday, and I saw some poisonous plants scrambled with the meat, but the thing was the plants were not that toxic in small quantity but he digested quite a few of them maybe accidentally, I didn't know for sure but what I did know was that the cure to this poison lies on the other side of the ocean where I came from with Kean, I remembered quite the journey we had, and on the small lake where we first took rest and ate, there was the plant I needed. I roared as loud as I could and soon everybody came, even the alpha at the commotion... when Kean returned I asked everybody that me and Kean have to go over the territory of the other dragons clan to get the medical herbs for the young dragon who fell sick from a rare and very toxic in large quantities plant ... and that I didn't encounter the medical herb anywhere near here, after that a lot of concerned faces looked back at me as I said to Kean '' do you still remember that lake we first rested when we were going here?'' Kean nodded, ''ok then let's go '' mother of the sick dragon thanked me and as we leapt to the skies with a quest to accomplish and a young dragon to save. I never felt like this, I was so determined to save him like he was one of my own, the motherhood took over and I had to save him by any means necessary even if I had to fight my way thru the enemy territory to get the medicine herb. After a few hours of flight now not holding our speed of our young bodies, we rushed in and didn't find any resistance thank god, we swooped down at the lake where we rested the first time we traveled together, and by good hunches and good sense of smell I found the bushes of these herbs, I pulled out of the ground 3 of them, 2 for the young dragon and 1 for the future growth of medicine if it happens again. ''We found what we were looking for we can go back...'' and with that we started to go back as fastest as we could when we encountered the enemy dragons, at first we stopped and looked at them as they looked at us with bizarre look at what we were holding. One of the enemy dragons said'' what the hell are you doing in our territory'' I replied ''we were sent to recover healing herbs in our hands to save a youngling's life.'' They looked at us not knowing what they themselves would do... after I while I said ''please let us thru the young one is dying as we speak'' they both looked at themselves and asked us ''will you peacefully exit our territory and not make much fuss, I have young ones myself and I know how you feel and we will let you pass, but be quick, we will pass you but maybe others won't, hurry!' and we speeded up as we carried our medicine herbs back to the dying dragon, it took us surprisingly less time to come back then to go to the lake, tail wind was merciful today. As we came back to the worried mother's young, he was getting worse, I took one of the plants and separated few of the plants bulbs, split them open and gave the young dragon to swallow them, he ate 2 of them and he felt that now it was easier to breathe and his fever receded with passing time until he woke up from unconsciousness. He after some time was all better but still numb and sore. It was a neurotoxin slow progressing from a plant which paralyzed the dragon and would in time stop the beating of a heart or he would just stop breathing, either way it was too poisonous to let it happen again and we seeded the rest of the plants around the small area of the forest where it could grow and be used for when it was needed. Alpha called me and Kean to come to him and in short time everybody but the mother of the young dragon and the youngling himself was at the shrine, he commended us for courage displayed during the day and for saving the young ones life, he said there will be a feast for everyone in the acknowledgment for their brave deeds. That's night we feasted and laughed like never before, everyone was there, even the mother with her young now back to its feet and feeling like his old self... we saw the mother and the young dragon come to me and young one said '' thank you Adeline for taking good care of me , even if you could have died during your journey'' then the mother turned from her now healthy young and bowed to the Adeline as many others did as thanks to the deed that I have done for everybody and saved a life once again. Alpha was now old but he knew what he has seen today and that Adeline is a true leader, both in her heart and in her soul... and he could have consider leaving the clan to her if she weren't a female, because a male Alpha is needed to lead a clan so as he watched potential successors he saw none compared to Adeline yet, maybe new generation will prove worthy enough to give them the title of Alpha and leadership of one of the strongest clans in the region, The Golden Clan.

End of chapter two

Chapter Three

The Real purpose of Life

After the feast we all went back to sleep as we had work to do tomorrow. As usually I stayed at home watching over younglings while the other mothers left to hunt, as me, Sheela and one more female dragon stayed to care and babysit the little dragons we were having general talk and noticed that the other female was very quiet. Sheela asked her what's wrong and she said '' that time of year is coming soon and I'm not really sure I want a mate yet, maybe next year if I have a choice'' at that I looked back at Sheela and she gave me a stare back and said '' yes I know I forgot to tell you about it... there is a time of year when every young female when she turns 6 years old, becomes most fertile for the conceiving of young dragons'' I opened my jaw and said '' so what are you saying, Is we have determined time for getting pregnant? When we will probably most succeed in conceiving... like a sort of hormones going wild all of a sudden?'' then my words and questions were answered by a nod. And I was insecure as much as the young female next to us in deep thought... ''so what are you saying we get to chose our mate for the rest of our life and conceive his young ?'' at that Sheela answered now by words which I now at this time preferred '' you get to chose only one dragon for life and I know you chose yours, what's the big deal? I have to choose one of those struggling to get the right mate, well me, I'm insecure with which I should go...'' I looked at her saying these things like it was common and not a action that binds you to the rest of your life to either your soul mate or somebody you really don't want to be with later on... I then said to Sheela '' what if I'm not ready yet to make that commitment, could I postpone it or something? Do I have to make the decision this year?'' Sheela looked at me and said '' I thought you love my brother and that you will be with him this year, how come you don't want to be with him what's wrong?'' I sadly said with insecure voice ''I'm just not ready yet to bare young, at least I look fit, ready, have the confidence and want young of my own, but this is very fast for me, dragons know their soul mates they want to mate with for who they are and so do I, with Kean but I'm not yet ready to make it official, unless he comes to me and says he feels the same way, don't get me wrong I love him dearly and I know he feels the same about me.. but I'm just insecure about so many things like what kind of mother will I make, can I possibly learn the young anything that's is worth to the dragons as a community, will I be possible to even conceive'' then Sheela told me '' first your one heck of a good mother so don't you dare to deny that, second what we learnt you and you learnt over your past life can easily be tough to them and that knowledge will help the clan very, very much, third you ARE a dragon and you can't even deny that so as every creature ever, you are able to conceive'' I looked down to the ground thinking what should I do. After some time thinking while I collected my thoughts about what should I do, Sheela carefully watched the younglings because we were too distracted at the time. I knew I wanted to be with Kean as much as he wanted to be with me, but I couldn't figure out what was holding me back to apparently happiness and fulfillment, as much as I thought I couldn't get a straight answer out of me and the mess in my head. After a while other mothers came back and we were free to leave on our own business, I with much heavy thoughts at the time went to my getaway spot near the lake and stared at my reflection in the crystal blue water. After a while I couldn't stand not knowing what is holding me back and as much as I thought nothing did came as an answer. Then Sheela came to me seeing that I'm depressed and in a lot of worry or in deep toughs and sat beside me, to notice that I didn't notice her at all, she then said '' you still worry about you and Kean?'' I didn't even flinch and said'' it's not that Sheela, I know we will be happy and yet I'm feeling uneasy, not at peace with what was going on right now, can you help me? Why do I feel this way?'' Sheela thought about it herself and nothing came to her mind either... I knew she couldn't give me an answer to my problem on which only I knew the answer. Then she said '' are you nervous and insecure at what will he think if you postpone the mating season because you're not ready? Do you feel nervous about confessing love to him even though you both know how you feel about each other?'' I looked at her like that might be the answer, because nothing else was hindering me and about the rest I thought over a hundred times over at least. After some thoughts I asked '' Is that so wrong to be nervous about one of most important decisions in my life that I'm going to make? And am I the only one that feels that way?'' Sheela said to that '' well I don't know about what was it like in human world and what you did to make a commitment to one another, but here you have your soul mate and nobody in the entire world could replace him, look at me I think I have at least two soul mates and I have to chose the best qualities that's I like more and yet it is hard, but I'm determined to get young this year. ''At that I figured my answer was only insecurity if I would make the right decision, and that I was just afraid to make a commitment from the start, and yes I do not know what Kean would think about me postponing this year but after the wise words and some advices I was determined to go after Kean, after I told Sheela that I made out my mind and that I'm will tell Kean about my love if he doesn't, and that nobody will stop us from being together... at that Sheela saw in me that now I know what I'm doing and just smiled and said '' I'm glad I could help you when you needed me... ah I just want to have someone to love and nurture to the rest of my life though our life span is larger than humans for about 30-40 years we are not immortal and we need to make the most of our lives as possible, us two young dragons have a whole life ahead of us and yet we made so much important decisions, went thru so much together and by ourselves, you even had the opportunity to live 30 years outside the dragon life to experience something totally different from anybody in the world''. As we were over talking about important things about our lives and big decisions we went back to our clan home. As we got there we saw that most dragons were now eating and the called out to us to join them and so we did and after we were full we all went to sleep. The next morning I felt a lot of different stronger smells as I woke up. As I tried sniffing it I recognized them as most of the females in the clan now went in their season. Around 5 of the 10 females now had much more hormones and stronger scents and I knew the mating season for them has began and it wasn't that far for us to began with as well. I sensed that Sheela wasn't one of the dragons that had their smells stronger than before and in a way I was glad. But then something happened I didn't really understand a roar from Alpha came our way as we all got woken up and slowly gathered at Alpha's place for something he had to say. he said '' I have something very important to say, as you all already noticed the mating season is beginning as of this week. Our clan now has 18 dragons and all of which are 10 females and 8 males including me and 7 younglings, and as you all know were one of the strongest and biggest clans ever. I'm saying this because that makes us a target to the dragon clans who want to take our land and kill our young. So as of now males are no longer entrusted with a sole part of protecting the clan, and by today onwards every female or male dragon of this clan has the right to protect what is dear to them and they will do that by protecting our young and our territory, if there comes to battles at least two females and a capable male is obliged to stay at our safe route and safe place where they will protect the young from incoming enemy by any means necessary, while the rest of clan needs to fight for our land and our future, until now most of the time was peaceful but that will soon change... because we now have over 20 dragons and that makes us right now the biggest clan there is and after this mating season probably even more and other clans know that and will try to stop us. I'm saying this because I care about each and every one of you and I know you would all gladly give your life away to save our home and our offspring. So as of today this rule is enforced into our clan, and I'll entrust the most capable warrior to teach the females how to effectively fight against males, and the most capable female will be there to assist with female agility over brute force... that's is all I will say for now and you all know your jobs for today and continue them as planned, meeting is over'' after that I went hunting for clan because it was mine, Kean, and Sheela's turn to hunt. As we hunted and searched for our pray I decided to tell Kean about my love towards him, I asked both of them to land and that I have something to tell the two of them. As we landed the both were looking at me at what I will say, and then I looked to Sheela and she instantly knew and went the other way to leave us alone but that she could hear us, as we were alone I looked back at Kean's eyes and we both knew what was going to happen next. I came to Kean and said '' you know I always felt something towards you and until recently I wasn't sure what, but now with Sheela's advice, wise words, and a lot of encouragement I'm able to confess this to you...'' I looked deeply in his eyes as he stood still full of joy but not showing it that I can finish my sentence ''... I love you more than anything in the world and I want this year that you become my soul mate and that I can carry your young.'' With that I rubbed my head against his head and then he said '' I feel the same about you but you had more courage than I had to stand by what you feel, and I couldn't wish for a better soul mate than you, and I promise that I will protect you and our young with every fiber of my being and that I will never let you get hurt if I can stop it'' with that we entangled our necks slowly and held each other for a moment and then full of joy and new found love that was there but never came to sight we saw Sheela full of joy and happiness that if she had tear canals she would cry on the spot. We continued our hunt and brought back to clan 6 dear's for everyone. The next morning I felt different my body was tingling with sensations as I found my own smell overpowering all the others and I instantly knew that my time has come to be ready to bring the young to the world, as I went to Kean he almost 10 feet away sensed me and turned as he knew that it was time I rubbed against him and he onto me and we went for out getaway spot and didn't returned till the next day. After most of the females saw us together they knew that it happened and we were bound together as soul mates for life. And I was now carrying his young and I felt too happy beyond anything, as I knew I am to become a mother and I have my soul mate by myself for all times. We were both extremely happy as we saw one more reason why we would be happier than we already are; we saw Sheela now had her own soul mate and that she was also carrying his young. As we talked about our experiences and how it has been, we both agreed that it was phenomenal experience, intense and full of pleasure unlike they ever experienced. As the days passed we felt slowly that we now had bigger bellies than usual and felt life growing in each and every one of the pregnant dragons. At that time I was curious and asked Sheela '' hmm Sheela can I ask you something?'' Sheela responded ''yes sure what is it?'', '' I've been thinking about something, do you maybe know did anybody tell you do we born live young or do we lay eggs like most reptiles do? '' at that question Sheela thought about it herself and didn't quite know the real answer and only one that knew that was the oldest and wisest among us, clan leader Alpha. So we both went to him to ask him this question. When we got there he was resting in the sun catching some shuteye, and as we seen him sleeping we decided that we won't disturb him and when we turned the other way from behind that was a question '' I see you have a question for me'' we both looked back at now slowly awakened dragon who sensed them here and smiled, we looked at each other and I asked the question '' could we ask you something?'' he said'' of course ask, that's why I am here to answer youth questions and lead the clan as best as I possibility can.'' At that I eagerly asked '' you must have seen it and we were wondering do we bring live young to the world or do we lay eggs like most reptiles do?'' at that Alpha laughed a bit and said '' ah what to say, were reptiles, so yes we do lay eggs, but much more like humans... instead of having a full nest of six to ten eggs we have one or maybe in rare occasions two at most, so don't worry about it and yes one more thing I have to tell you two to pass to the others, it's a good thing you actually came'' at that we waited and he got up and continued '' after you lay your first egg or eggs you will become more matured and for a whole day after you laid your egg's you will be feverish and couldn't move for at least half a day...'' at that we looked at him and we asked even before we even said anything... '' you see eggs need a lot of heat to develop properly and fast, so as a help your body goes into fever state, that keep the egg warm for the next full day as long as you have the fever, and after the fever recedes you have one more surprise in store for you, you have developed fire breathing capabilities, so in other words you can breathe fire and your body temperature increases as you develop it, now you know Adeline why males are so warm and yet you knew that you didn't posses that heat even as a dragon, male dragons from their fifth year develop, without the fever, fire capabilities as a safe guard and as a weapon to the their foes, in other hand females use it to keep their young warm for the next 3 months until they hatch from their eggs as young dragons, and after that as you train with fire you can even longer, hotter, and more precise master the use of fire than any male could... So you see females are really special in compare to males'' we both looked excited as we heard that much information and kind of feared the fever that will come after they lay their eggs. As we left I thanked the alpha for help and left him to sun bath in his place as he lie back down and closed his eyes. I and Sheela told the information to the rest of the females and they were scared at first but then fire story excited them, to forget the fever that soon followed after we lay the eggs. 3 weeks passed since we conceived and we were just about to be ready to lay eggs but my and some of the females belly's were bigger than the rest, we all noticed it and Sheela also noticed her belly was smaller than mine. The next morning I found myself in pain as I got up and quickly lie down I looked at Sheela who just woke up like me and the same thing happened to her… I just kept watching her as we looked at each other with a question, is it time already? And I found myself in pain and pulsating feeling from my muscles pushed and pushed, I thought it must be labors of laying eggs, the pain increased slightly and I felt relief as one of the eggs came out, but found myself still pushing and still in labors and feeling really hot and feverish, and in the same fashion the second egg came out and I looked at them, they were oval like any other egg I ever seen but with so hard shell that surely from a 5 feet fall they wouldn't break, they were purple/blue and shiny and in like I think was instinct curled up in a circle around them as I felt worse and fever took over my body that I couldn't even move… I watched Sheela asking me am I all right but I was now in a lot of pain and my head was really hurting as I could only watch my friend get into labor and herself curl up over the egg she laid and fell to sleep as so did I. After a day or so we finally woke up as I saw Kean sit next to me and watch over me, when I opened my eyes Kean muzzled me and lifted my head as I looked at the eggs with so much feeling of being proud, excited, happy, and most of all glad that I have a family and that I'll have my young soon enough. Kean asked me how I feel I just said '' not really sure I feel like I have fever yet nothing hurts and I feel warm'' but I knew it would pass eventually and I felt tingling in my throat I tried to say move Kean but as soon as I opened my mouth the biggest burst of flames exited as I choked almost from them, and Kean got burned a bit and said I wouldn't have to worry about that, only scales were charred he was fine and that he never seen that big burst of flames before, and as I regained my breath I looked at him and rest of the dragons looking at me especially Sheela which was startled at the display of raw power of flames, I looked down on the ground where I burst out the flames and from my position to about six to seven feet there was nothing left but ashes and black as coal ground even the green grass was now nowhere to be seen at that spot. And I asked myself I should keep the eggs warm with that? Not a chance. After a while Sheela also burst her first flame from her mouth and waited until she catches her breath and I said ''wow nice flames I kind of didn't see mines because I was afraid to open my eyes'' and then I smiled at her and she returned to the watch of her egg. I was trying to get the flames again and nothing came, I was wondering how to make them work that is, how do I use them, I knew that they now work, but couldn't use them. After much tinkering in my mind I found a new like a valve in my mouth with my tongue, and turned to ask Kean what it was and as I asked he replied '' that's there the fuel for fire comes from and that it combusts when it catches air as its highly volatile on open air exposure, I tried to tinker with the hole and couldn't do nothing to help my two eggs stay warm as I saw Alpha coming to see the dragons and their young. When he got to me he saw that I had two eggs and said '' I kind of knew that you will be the one with two eggs, because it runs in the family…..'' and on that we both looked at him and he realized that he said something he shouldn't have and left us to think about what he just accidentally said, I asked Kean '' it runs in the family? What was that supposed to mean…...'' Kean replied I really don't know I know as much as you do but I think I know something about this what just happened…..'' at that I curiously stared at Kean while he continued ''when we went to the polygon where you were supposed to learn flying when you spread your wings I saw the resemblance that kind of hit me hard at then and I went to tell Sheela but was cut off during the sentence at why all looked at something in the air. I found out that you carry the family mark of the Alpha side of family… color bound feathers with a hint or white and extremely long fangs for great stability during flight '' at that my eyes widened in realization that, the dragon which was killed must have been his family, maybe daughter or soul mate, at that I asked Kean should we tell the Alpha about this as he must have noticed that I must be his dead daughter or soul mate. Then Kean said '' it's better not to tell him or maybe he even knows but he wants to leave you alone, you see maybe you have her soul but you're a different person now, your more like her offspring than her, maybe you don't even have her color, as you noticed he is yellow with orange like gold and you are blue with white maybe like her mother but very unlikely. So let's keep this to ourselves for now until the eggs hatch and I can watch over them while you go talk to him, ok?'' I replied '' ok...''. Alpha once again came to us and asked me did I master fire breathing because my body heat was not enough and I must learn it fast and heat it to the point it almost burns the ground, because young ones need extremely high temperatures to develop properly and during these months I have an extremely hard immunity to fire so I can even char myself if it means keeping the young ones hot….. At that I tried everything in my mind to breath fire from my mouth and nothing came, I asked Kean could he burst as much flames at the eggs and me so I can generate the heat as much as I can and keep the eggs hot, at first Kean wasn't going to char me but he remembered the immunity to fire and saw everybody else with the males keeping the eggs warm while mothers were charred all around the egg. And with much hesitation he burst his flames at the eggs and me and I didn't seem to be harmed by the extreme heat and kept the eggs warm for next several hours. When Kean did it again he pointed out that he is becoming dry and he doesn't have much fuel for his flames left. At that I asked Sheela about how to breathe fire and she saw me in despair and said '' just imagine the flames, loosen the canal in your mouth so air can get in and the chemical reaction will burst the flames out, but be sure to keep a big reserve of fuel at all times as our fire is hotter than males and we heat them up faster.'' At that I tried the instructions and it worked or so I thought, I mostly burped a small flame and from the jolt I closed the valve in my mouth and I thanked Sheela for help and she tended to her own young. I mastered fire breathing soon enough and kept the eggs warm and out of harm's way as Kean brought me meat and water so I could drink and eat, as there was nothing else to do for the most of the time, we were curled up against our eggs afraid to let them be alone even for a few minutes, months passed while we slept, ate and drank and occasionally went our business, but nothing else happened, and Alpha came once or twice during the weeks to inspect the eggs and see if they were heated well, I had to work twice as hard on my two eggs as one was easier to keep warm. But I managed and kept them hot at all times. 2 and a half months passed as we all noticed movement in the eggs and felt so happy that the time was near, my both eggs were now on the regular basis moving inside their shell as I watched them. I and Kean never felt so proud in our life and my motherhood really kicked in when I saw the shells crack and everyone started to search the sound of the crack to find out that one of my eggs was hatching. I was so happy that I just looked frozen and roared for Kean to come, and as he came the top of the shell just cracked it didn't open, Alpha came as fast as he could, and said to leave the egg alone while the dragon hatch, he or she must come out on his own and start walking with a little help of their mother. All listened to the instructions as another crack sound made everyone look for the source to find that my other egg was hatching. We were all puzzled why mine eggs were first to crack. And Alpha said '' it was from your heat generated from your fire, they made them develop faster as I said before, before everyone started to care for their eggs'' at that we heard a crack then another, and another, as almost all the eggs in minutes started to crack and young dragons were trying to pound their way thru them. It took another 6 hours to get the shell to crack properly and to see the inside of the shell. As I first looked inside I saw a small face looking at me with a curious look as Alpha said all males should leave their females with their children so the children could recognize the sound and the face of their mothers, and at that Kean left and smiled at me as I looked again in the egg and saw him or her pushing the sides of the shell only to stop to see my face, then I backed away so he/she could finish the cracking of a hard shell, Sheela said '' is it a he or she?'' I looked at her and said ''I can only see the face so I don't know'' after moments Sheela's saw that a good chunk of her egg was now gone and that her baby dragon was sticking her/his head out of the shell looking at her, she muzzled him and left him to crack the rest as babies needed to if they want to become strong. After a few hours my two eggs cracked far enough that one or more pushes from both of my baby dragons would be enough to get out, that last few moments I stared full of joy and happiness as never before and motherhood glaring over me as I saw the egg burst open from 3 sides and a baby dragon was outside, at first she recognized me as it was the dragon I looked thru the top of her shell, and she yelped and went to my side on her shaky legs after I made her walk, and lie down beside me as I cleaned her body with my tongue from the juices that were with her for the every step of the way as she developed, after I finished cleaning her up Sheela asked me if she could look at her, I moved my head and tail to expose a young female dragon who at first was scared as everything changed and she saw more dragons other than her mom and she knew I was her mom because she clinger to me and I closed the opening with my tail and my head while I disposed of the broken shell to the side, and I was cleaning my baby dragon I saw the other egg burst open and another almost identical dragon pop out as I lick him and muzzled him to his feet. He slowly came to the other young one at which point they stared at themselves and closed their eyes as I cleaned them and went to sleep as they were exhausted from fighting to get out of the shell, with that I stared at them with happiness and pride as now I had a female and a male baby to care for, with love and joy of doing so, as a mother to my own offspring. At that point Sheela's baby came out as did many others as well, I saw almost identical young male as the color which contrasted with blue and her soul mate. She was also happy when her young dragon went to sleep as exhaustion took place and we all started to care for our young and talk to other dragons at what they were females or males, at first nobody could believe I got a male and a female, because they all know that chances are bigger to get two females or two males instead of a male and a female. At the end of the day we counted the males and females and come to a conclusion that there were six females and five males, I and another female got two eggs as everybody else got one, there were nine mother dragons and eleven new kids to take care of. After a few hours anxious fathers came running as we told them to be quiet as the young ones were asleep. As Kean came to see the young ones he just stared at them and lie down next to me to watch them for a while and then he asked me '' so what are they?'' I said with pride and joy but calmly and soft that I don't wake the little ones from their sleep '' one is a female and other a male'' at that he raised his head so happy that he went running and leapt to the skies at that height that I could hardly hear him roar from happiness at the sight of a male and a female from the bottom of his heart. I stared at him way above the ground and I knew he is also now a proud father of a baby male and a female. And as he came back I told him that he better be ready to get something to eat for the young ones when they wake up, and that I'm also going to sleep.

After I woke up I carefully glanced at my children still sleeping soundly and Kean beside me keeping watch. I said '' hey Kean did you stay up whole night?'' he replied '' yes I couldn't sleep, I was thinking only about you and the young ones, and you know this is just the beginning, we will today learn them how to eat, how to smell and track, how to run, jump, and eventually glide until their wings are large enough to fly.'' At that I looked at them and said ''we have a lot of work to do and I want for this to last as long as it can as I will remember this forever in my heart'', and I softly pressed against them on their heads and went to think about what is in store for us for the next several days, after that I had a dream of my children and me playing in the wind having fun and we were very happy together as a family…. I was awakened at the rumbling on my body as I made a circle with my tail and my neck to form some kind of barriers for just this moment, so they couldn't wonder of while I sleep and it proven to be an effective child crib. After I awaken I saw them looking in my eyes and knew from the start, I nudged Kean and as he awaken from his sleep I told him that kids were hungry so if he could, could he go get us four something to eat. At that he smiled at the two little dragons faces and muzzled them gently and they knew that Kean was their father as they jumped at him joyfully, and with that he went to find us some meat. After a short while all other mothers now had their soul mates hunt for food. And Kean shortly returned with a doe in his clutches and as he set the food on the ground I ripped the foreleg apart and gave it to the kids so they can figure out what to do with it. For some time we both watched them look at the meat and sniffing it and as the female licked the meat almost instantly she started to eat and her brother joined her in their feast. We looked at them and we ate as well. After the kids finished their meal, she looked at me, and I figured something out and said to Kean '' how shall we name them?'' then Kean thought about it and said '' I always wanted a son and I already have a name for him if you don't mind, but I'd like for his name to be Keanu…''I at that looked at the little dragon and said '' so Keanu it shall be, and for our daughter I'll name her Layla'' Kean nodded in agreement and said '' Layla is a beautiful name for her, Sheela told me that you once considered to take that name for yourself…'' as we looked at our children looking at us, we noticed they want something, I moved my tail so they could go explore the world and they slowly and wobbly on their feet moved to a small clearing to get the smells, sights, and morning sun rising beyond the horizon. As they started to walk faster and more secure I saw that Keanu was already so playful that he didn't give any time to his sister before he made her play with him, as we watched them happy and watching for any danger to them, Alpha came after every family had some time for themselves and their new children and saw all of them already playing next to their mothers and fathers, he was also happy at the look of the two little dragons playing near Adeline and Kean, and he went to inspect the others. Kean let them play for a little while and then we got up and started walking towards them so we can learn them to run and speak, as we showed the young ones how to run, they copied what we did and soon ran everywhere to exhaust their at first enormous amount of energy, which we noticed. Then came the time to learn them to speak, but at that I wasn't sure how to learn them and asked Kean about it '' how do we really learn them to talk?'' as Kean looked at me '' we don't, we just show them what which sound means and they catch up pretty fast as I am told, so let's do our best, they are dragons of course and they already know our language but they need to learn what each sound means for the communication to be successful.'' At that I called them to us as they looked at me and they knew that they were called to come to their parents. When they sat beside us we gradually started learning them to speak, at first we taught them their respected names which they caught up pretty fast, then we started for full 5 hours trying to make them talk, and our daughter was just listening while our son was trying to communicate, at some point there were some sentences from our son, but then I looked at our daughter and came to her while Kean was busy with Keanu, I sat next to her looking at the ocean and the valley that is supposed to be their home for the rest of their life. I looked at her and softly muzzled her on top of her head, and she said '' I love you mom '' at which I looked in her eyes and smiled from the bottom of my heart and we sat there and watched the beautiful valley in front of us, as Kean learnt Keanu how to talk mostly and will get better in time he wanted to see how we were doing and came to us and found out that we were only staring at the valley. He said '' hmm and did you teach her to talk?'' at which me and my daughter looked at him, and I tried to say but was silenced by what my daughter said '' me and mom were watching the valley, and yes I can talk quite good by now, my brother is a slow and I mean SLOW learner, it took me first two hours to get my sentences together.'' At that we both looked at her, I proud and Kean kind of amazed at what he just heard. At that now we all could communicate and we were taking a rest as I kept my children warm while they slept, I dreamed of how big they grew in just two days, maybe not physically but mentally. At that point we waited for Kean to return with our meal as I saw while our children were going to sleep that they were now quite hungry, when Kean returned with a meal for them they looked at the meat and jumped to get their stomachs full, I saw Sheela's young looking at the source of smell as I told him that he can join them, he almost instantly jumped and joined in as there was enough meat for at least four to five kids. As they finished we spent the rest of the day playing with them. We were running around the meadows, pastures but we weren't going near forests because of potential dangers that were lurking around, like wolves or some other predators, just I case. As we played I saw that somebody was missing and I froze, ''Keanu, where is he?'' and then Kean noticed and started scouring the land from the skies as I tracked his smell around, only to hear a baby roar in the woods, as I heard that I literally crushed thru all the trees standing in my way from me and my baby and as I came to him I saw that a pack of wolves hurt Keanu and were trying to kill him but as I came they saw that there is no other way and tried to jump at me, but I was fixated on my baby's injury that I went in blind rage at the attackers, first I clawed the one in the air that got away almost instantly, other I crushed between my jaw and then the Alpha was the biggest one, but as he was the strongest and biggest of his kind he posed quite a challenge, at first we intersected a few of his blows and so did he mines, and after a minute of testing a I saw that I can't leave my baby like that for long and charged at the big wolf, he bitted me on the neck and I grabbed him on his spine and sent him flying in the air, after that I thought he must be crazy if he would came again after me but he still did and I was knocked down by the push from the wolf, and as he came for my throat I burst all my flames at once, it was such a massive blast from my mouth that I turned him to dust in mere seconds and destroyed a small part of the forest in an instant, and I turned to my baby and tried to get to him, he was scared for a while and I calm him down a bit so I can look at the injury, as I saw that I only need to clean the wound and it wasn't bad, I seen that he was hurt and that it hurts him, I said ''now will you listen to us about going to woods alone?'' he nodded instantly and I said get on my back I carry you to our home, as we went out of the woods I saw Kean land immediately, and as he came to me he saw me covered in my blood, scars from my battle, and he saw the baby hurt, and he asked '' are you two all right ?' I then said '' get us the healing herbs, and those plants for disinfection as fast as you can, I will clean his wound.'' At that Kean stared at the dragon baby and saw a cut over his arm, but he was more concerned about me and the point that I don't feel the wound at my neck and arm which was quite large and I was losing blood slowly. He said then '' I'll take care of Keanu you go back to Sheela and ask her that the rest of the females help about your wound'', at that I looked at my wound and I noticed I don't feel that side and that my arm is falling asleep slowly, and I looked at Kean that something is wrong when my arm collapsed on its own not able to withstand my weight now… Kean knew something was wrong and roared for help, in matter of minutes all females and males in the area, with Sheela came as they saw me hurt badly, and they knew what they have to do. Sheela saw the baby hurt and noted one of the females to take care of Keanu, then she came to me and asked '' are you feeling all right ?'' I said that I don't feel my arm anymore and that my side is going numb, and my neck stiff. At that Sheela knew what she must do and started breathing fire at my wound to heat it up because I lost circulation in this part of the body and it was getting cold, as she slowly massaged the place to give the flesh better circulation rest of the females returned with the plants and started to make medicine and healing paste for the wound, at some time later I awakened and I could feel my arm and move it, for that matter. I looked around and I saw that I'm at Home clan area and I saw my kids running to me and Keanu already healing pretty good. I smiled at them and when I saw my wound I didn't want to move much so I stayed still lying on the ground. As they came Keanu stood for a while few feet from me and I looked at him, and I knew that he felt guilty for what happened to me. I told him that he made a mistake like many more did before him and that he will from now listen to me and Kean and won't go on his own and that this will never happen again.'' So even from all this you leant your lesson'', I smiled after the sentence. Keanu was reluctant for a while, he came to me slowly and I muzzled him softly on his head as I could hear him sobbing next to me. I to comfort him pressed my head against his body and told him that nothing happened and that he shouldn't feel sorry, everyone is ok and I'll live on, because I have something to live for, and that reason will keep me going even thru hell to protect and even after I am hurt I will with every fiber in my body protect you two no matter what happens. If something ever happens to me, Kean and Sheela will take care of you two and that I will always be with you watching over you as long as you remember me in your hearths. At that I looked at both of them feel secure and that they fell asleep, to sleep the today's events off their minds. And I thought about it myself ''so this is how mothers feel about their children, is that the real purpose of life, to bear your own children one day and look after them and nourish them until they are big enough to take care of themselves, to bring life to this world, to help it grow…..'' with this thoughts I fell asleep and in my dreams I was reliving the joy and happiness from the first time my children were conceived, from where I laid them as eggs, as where I cared for them 3 months until the hatched and I got first glimpses of my children. And as I relived the moments of my life one dragon tear appeared in my closed eye and fell to the ground, as the magic from these moments sprouted a beautiful blue with white flowers as the symbol of hope and life.

End of chapter three

Chapter Four

Protection of our Way of Life

After I was back on my feet, I started playing again with my children and became more active as I felt like I was born anew, with my kids and friends, family all around me I felt never happier in my life, I had everything a dream life would have. I played with them thru several weeks because I was still weak to fly and I was still hurt. So I took care of kids, as the other mother's seen what I would do to save my own I would do it for theirs and they were right I would with no hesitation do that. Their kids were in good hands. I at first didn't notice that I started to change my skin as my wound healed and I was ready to get bigger and better scales, then one of the children commented why am I turning gray and when I looked at myself I smiled and said '' I'm just changing my skin, don't worry I'll have even more beautiful scales after I shed this skin, at that all kids came to see my now dying old skin as I smiled at how keen they were to find out more, so I started talking about what will happen in the future. How males will get fire breathing capabilities and females even better flames after they join their soul mate, and bare their own young, how they will fly and hunt for the clan, look after one another and protect the clan from all those who try to harm you or take over your land. After they heard what they wanted my skin started to itch, and I could feel it in the back of my mind making me mad, at that point Kean stopped by to see how we are doing to see me itching over my dead skin. At that point he laughed and said '' go shed your skin I'll watch over the young ones and tell them stories while you discard that gray old thing.'' I smiled and said ''thanks this itch is unbearable'', and I went to the rock where Kean found it helping to shed it against, after some trial and error I finally got my dead skin pierced so I could stretch it and get my arm out of it, at first I was concentrated at shedding and not at the scales, I managed to take off the skin of my wings and all of my legs, and got out of the body skin pretty easily, the now left skin was on my head and I pulled it hard until all of the dead skin was off me, and then I noticed my scales and in fascination I looked at them , they were different, one scale to describe it was still blue but it was oddly shaped and it looked a lot stronger, as I tried to see how strong I didn't realize that I was trying to cut myself, and just couldn't with my claws and as I tried more force I managed to slightly slice thru to see how much thicker my scales now were. I was happy because if this means I have it that means my children have it and will get it in time, at first steppes around in my new skin I felt like I have more freedom, I tried more agile moves and find them much easier than before and I was much faster. I glanced some more on my new skin to find it better suited for agility and defense than for strength and brute force and I was glad about it. As I went back to Kean I saw the kids playing and smiled as Kean noticed me and was amazed how better I look and how slender I now am. I came to him and brushed my head against his as a token of our love and went to lie down beside him and rest for a bit while we watched the kids play. All of a sudden we heard a roar and kids stopped playing as they ran to us, we watched for the source and soon found one of the scouts is badly injured and hardly flying to us. When he crashed from exhaustion he said that the neighbor clan has made an advance and is currently moving here with their full force….. We all couldn't believe this was happening, that we were going to war with another clan, as Alpha heard he called us all and said '' we all knew this was going to happen soon enough, they will try to take our land and kill our young, so we have to defend them by any means necessary, Sheela, Kean and Serene I entrust you to defend our future, go gather all the kids at the safe route and the safe spot and guard it with your life. The rest prepare for battle. I'll look over the battle and challenge the leader when he makes his move, everybody else gather at the western pasture, there the battle will commence. You have enough time to make your goodbyes and farewells to your kids as maybe you won't come back, but your children will live on.'' With those words Alpha said meeting dismissed and I went to Kean and the kids… as I came they were scared and I comforted them '' everything is going to be fine don't you worry your mother will come back as I said before I have a reason to live for, that means you two. Besides Father is there to protect you.'' Kean looked concerned because he knew why he wasn't called for the battle, the injuries over the past 2 years when Adeline saved him were hindering him and he was still recovering, and Sheela was strongest of females and she was needed to fight any dragon that tried to kill the young behind the whole battle. After we all said what needed to be said at the final moment we all gathered at the pasture, I taking the lead of below forces as Alpha looked for the enemy. We waited for about 10 minutes as we saw them coming, they were slowly flying to preserve their strength and stamina for the battle, and they flew down to the pasture lining up as we did. We were ready and calm while their savage clan shrieked, hissed and roared at our line of defense, and I saw leader of the clan step forward and so did I to meet in the middle of the pasture between the two forces. And then he said '' this doesn't have to end in bloodshed, just release your hold of this land and leave with your young'' I for a while looked at him and said '' we have no intention of releasing our hold of this land, and would rather burn it to the ground than leave it for your savage clan, you have no honor, no virtues , you are just like humans, fighting for power and supremacy with no bigger ideals, and this is why your clan will end up like any other fighter and conquer clan, in bloodshed from their own power, you will end up slaughtering yourselves and you will see your full clan at its peak as you stand on your own people that you made fall during these years and sacrificed their lives for meaningless slaughter…'' at that I turned away and felt like he will strike me, he shouted '' you insignificant female, how dare…'' and was cut off during his sentence as I dodged his blow and with a swift turn and quick leap at him with my claws slashed his throat wide across his neck. At that I looked back at the enemy force starting to linger at the site of their leader defeated by a female, only one female not even a male and yet so powerful. In my mind was only one thought '' survive, and live for your children, protect our way of life and our future'' as I looked at the enemy force they were backing off, while their leader was choking on his own blood and our force slowly and peacefully advanced so slow to show them like we are too deadly to handle, not even showing our teeth, as a final act while my main force was 2 feet away I put my feet at their leaders neck while he looked at me and snapped it, instantly killing him on the spot. That was the key, the enemy morale and will to fight crumbled at the sight of professional killers and their leader being so easily taken down and they broke their formation and retreated. As everybody was not even a scratched they looked back at me, all of them, every single dragon looked at me with a look with so much surprise and amazed feelings as I felt truly happy at the sight of none of us being killed or injured. The only things that I cared about were my children and my loved one… I turned away and as I went to the kids to tell them everything was fine now and that they retreated. I saw Kean and Sheela exit the safe tunnel with the kids and I ran towards them. As I came Sheela and Kean asked me some questions and asked me what happened and I said '' I killed their leader and they retreated at the sight of an Alpha male been taken out by a female'' they looked at me with curious looks and Sheela asked '' you really killed their Alpha?'' I looked back with a happy look on my face,'' and we didn't even have to start the fight, their forces lingered and retreated as they saw me kill him, and nobody is hurt and that is what matters'' Kean and Sheela were amazed at what I just said and they smiled at how brave I was and what I did for the clan. When I got to the living area a roar called us all for a meeting, Alpha stood on his usual spot as he called me to come in front of him, I bowed in respected manner and watched in his blue eyes as he said '' Adeline you keep us amazed at how much you are capable of, but to singlehandedly take down enemy Alpha with a plan to crush the enemy morale, that was brilliant. And you saved a lot of lives today and the children didn't have to fear for their mothers and fathers because of the act you did.'' And I stared in surprise as I saw the Alpha of the clan bow before me, to notice every other dragon in the clan with Kean and Sheela bowing to show their respect toward me '' and then I said '' I did this for the clan, my mind fixated on thoughts of protecting our young, to protect our way of life, to protect our future '' with that everybody looked up and Alpha said '' with this you have proven us the true virtues that we all known u already had, which we hold most dear to us and we don't regret having you with us, as you have proven to be a unique individual and embedded your actions into everybody's hearths for generations to hear about stories of your heroics and your actions'', with that Alpha dismissed the meeting and I stayed behind to talk to Alpha alone. When everybody were gone and I was alone with Alpha, I asked him '' Alpha I fear we have something to discuss about me'' Alpha looked at me and I continued '' Kean noticed that I carry your family tree characteristics, and I was wondering could I be your long lost daughter possibly?, because the accident that killed the dragon 28 years ago matches with the time I was born and the time I spent here…'' at that Alpha at first checked me out for his family resemblances, and I saw that he was searching them and I opened my wings so he can clearly see them, after he saw that his long lost daughter and her soul was in me he didn't say anything he just glanced at me, lie down and looked at me, '' I had a daughter almost 28 years ago and I feared that you are actually her, and my fears were confirmed today. I did something terrible to my daughter, when we had a battle 28 years ago my soul mate then the mother of your soul, died as I failed to help her help the new inexperienced dragons, I stayed by her side while she died and the last thing she said was to keep our daughter safe and that she is meant for great deeds that will reflect the clan in its full glory. For the next few days I was in grief over the loss and my daughter blamed me for her death, I was too sad to even talk to her as she reminded me so much of my soul mate. But I think I felt responsible for the death of her and that what she was saying was actually true. As she seen I regretted every moment of the battle that I didn't save her mother, she became angry and sad but full of grief as I was. But she did the unthinkable; she went to the humans as her final act to end her life… When I heard the news about it, it was too late by the time I got there, she was dead. That crushed me; I lost both of my reasons to live. As I went back to the clan I thought about ending my life to join them. And then something happened over the sea, I heard my soul mate voice that you were alive but in another way, not as a dragon. I was at first happy to hear her voice so warm and happy, that my daughter was alive even more. When I came back I decided to keep the clan going until my daughter comes back so we can continue our lives and I bound my body and soul to this place, the spell that bound me here turned my scales solid gold and I became the Golden clan Alpha.'' As I listened to the story I felt sad but happy that Alpha has his daughter back. I then said '' and that makes me your daughter that finally came back….I was human, born and raised as one. Maybe I will never replace her but I'm not going to try becoming her, I am what I am, even though I carry her soul that doesn't mean we are the same personalities, it makes us more like a family.'' At that I comforted the Alpha and he was happy, as I went back to the living area he said '' I never thought of you as my daughter, and yet I feel that way about you, and now I know why, because you carry her soul you and I are family and I feel happy just knowing that I have somebody else beside me that will carry our family name of Alphas'' at first I thought about what he said and couldn't put my mind to rest until I gave up….. Time will show where our destinies cross again. As I went back to the clan everybody came to see what happened between me and Alpha, Kean and Sheela also. I said nothing happened we only talked about something personal, that I wouldn't like to get public until Alpha seems comfortable with it. Then everybody left as they respected my privacy and I with Kean and Sheela went on a little walk with our children. Then the inevitable was asked '' so can you tell us in private what happened'' Kean asked and Sheela carefully listened. I then smiled and said '' I carry the soul of his daughter'' at that they both glanced at me and I continued '' well the thing is that Alpha told me his story behind his daughter death and his soul mate, what happened and how he awaited for me to come to him at last, so the soul bound spell which kept him young and alive, frozen in youth could be broken and that he could live with his family once again'' at that they both looked at each other with disbelief and turned to me.

''I maybe won't be able to replace his daughter but it doesn't mean that we are not family, I'm more like her sibling or her offspring at most but I carry her within me'' they both understood what I said and smiled that their leader finally got family of his own. I looked at Keanu and Layla playing and smiled while Kean and Sheela watched me enjoy the miracle of life that I have opportunity to experience. After the day was over and we all headed back to our home to sleep I noticed the forests so wild and unexplored, after all I always liked forests and all the wildlife they possessed within them. So I decided tomorrow that I'll take Keanu and Layla into the woods for a little field trip. I remembered the last time we were in the forest and Keanu got hurt but I killed most of the wolves in that attack so I don't think they will bother us anymore. When I woke up I said to the kids that we are having a field trip today to the woods. They looked frozen in their positions as they knew what happened before, and I said '' there is nothing to be afraid of, I'll be there and the wolves are gone they won't bother us anymore, I want you two to have good memories of us in the woods, they are full of interesting animals, and plants I want to teach you about.'' With that I smiled and they slowly came to me not sure what to do and jumped on my back as we were headed to the forest. As we entered they started to get interested in the scenery and a lot of animals in the trees and in the woods, they started asking about plants and animals, I gladly told them the names of the animals and which plants were eatable and which were poisonous. The tension was over them as they felt joy of being here learning about forest wildlife, but as Layla saw does and bucks she said they were food and I smiled and said ''every animal has its purpose, it's all part of the circle of life, predators eat herbivores, and every animal eventually die, even us. We all do some good to our land as without predators it would be too much herbivores and all animals would suffer, and if there were too much predators we would soon found ourselves without anything to eat.'' They both listened as they learnt about the circle of life and respected its balance. We lie down next to a small clearing to rest and so Keanu and Layla could see the plants and play here for a while. I watched them and smelled the air for any potential dangers and was ready for anything. As the time passed I got another great idea. Why wouldn't we go to beach tomorrow to show them the ocean and so we could swim for a bit in the shallow beach I found before, as we flown over it many times, it was more like a hole in the ground shallow enough with stone rocks covering the exit from shallow valley full of water and sand. Sea water could get in easily but sharks and other predators couldn't. with that plan finished I asked my kids should we go back home to get something to eat and they eagerly jumped on my back to go home, I just smiled as they played on my back and were now happy and not scared to be in the forest. We came home and just as we did Kean with our lunch flew down and we all ate. After we ate we went to sleep I surrounding my babies to keep them warm and Kean pressed next to me with our heads next to each other so I muzzled the kids and said ''goodnight and sleep tight.'' I dragged my head over Kean's as a goodnight kiss and we went to sleep. The next day I fulfilled my plan and we went to beach as a family, all of us together. As we came there we lie down on the beach as the kids experimented with salty water. We both smiled when the wave covered them and they were running towards us frightened at the water that attacked them. I said '' down worry it's just waves they won't hurt you and we are here so don't worry'' after that they went for a little swim and we joined after some time and had fun with the kids. But I saw something in the ocean and as I turned to meet its gaze it was gone, I stared at the water for a while and then Kean noticed I'm watching carefully at any disturbance in the water, I asked Kean to get the kids out of the water onto land and as they came to the land I saw it from a different direction but as I turned to that side it was already gone. I asked him to get the kids home. At that Kean asked me ''what did you see?'' I said nothing and asked him again to please get the kids home as it wasn't safe anymore. He noticed an alarming feeling in his spine and hurried with the kids back to the clan home. And then finally I saw it emerge from the water only its eyes and head, at my surprise it was a dragon. I just stared at it and didn't know what to do. We stared at each other for a while and I spoke to the dragon '' who are you why are you here?'' and the dragon entered the closed valley and I saw a slender dragon with no legs but a massive tail with only two arms with a fish net between his/her claws. At that moment I knew it was a sea dragon, I backed away from the water but was still on the beach as I waited for it to make a move. It just surfaced at the sandy beach and was resting helping itself get dragged to the beach with its two hands, it was truly a sight to be seen, it was pure sky blue scaly body with enormous tail which merged with its body and it had 2 hands with claws, long neck and a set of teeth like any other dragon had. But on its full sky blue head with muzzle full of teeth was four little flippers and she had quite a few of them over her body. So she could steer better under the water. I knew the moment she spoke to me that she was female and she said '' I see you found my little valley, when I saw you playing with your family I wanted to let you stay, but you have very sharp senses and instincts.'' And she smiled with her sky blue head and her pure green eyes as she looked at me. I felt relief that she was friendly and I came to her to chat. I said '' I never thought there were any sea dragons before, and yet alone one that could speak with me, I mean nothing disrespectful but what are you doing here?'' she looked at me with a smile and said '' I had to go somewhere to relax for a bit, I'm roaming the seas for a while now and not until three days ago did I find this place and made it my home'' at that I smiled and said '' then we are neighbors, let me introduce myself, hi I'm Adeline nice to meet you'' and she replied '' glad to meet you Adeline I'm Alika '' I went to her side and said '' so you roam the seas? Is it beautiful down there?'' she then looked down and said '' I have no family and I'm all alone in there, don't get me wrong it is peaceful down there, it has a lot of life and everything that a sea creature would want, but I find it dull, there is so little color and the salt is always gathering in my lungs so I'm constantly coughing up to clear them, I find the open world much more joyful, full of different smells, the sun warming you up, to see the sunset with its full glory over the mountains and the fresh air while you fly, that's what I would like to have'' at that I knew she needed somewhere to belong like I did when I was still human with no family or friends. I then said '' well you maybe don't have any family but now you have friends, me and my family if you want to stay here of course'' her face shined at what she heard and said '' thank you, very much''. I stayed by her side some more when I saw Kean come and see me with another dragon, he froze to inspect the creature next to me while we both noticed him and turned to meet his gaze at us. I shouted to him '' don't worry, come, we made a new friend today in need of our help'' as he came he saw the big tail and no legs with its distinct features and said '' hey, call me Kean I'm Adeline's soul mate and our kids I presume you saw already'' she just smiled at him and I asked her '' how do you stay out of the water if you are a sea creature?'' and then she replied '' I can breathe from the water and air, I'm not like most fish that dry up and die when they are on sun, I'm a reptile like you two are and I can live on land but I would be an easy target for predators, so I stick to the sea'' we both looked like we got an idea and suggested to Alika '' would you want to join us at our clans home for a while, we're on elevated ground so you don't need to fear from predators'' she thought about it for a while and she came to a conclusion that she would be in good hands and would gladly see other dragons like her but not sea kind and said '' ok, it will be nice to have reptile company at last '' with that I thought about something, and was eager to try it. I said to Alika that she climbs my back and that I will carry her to our home, she was surprisingly light but heavier than most of my pray and I told her to hold on tight around me, and I speeded up towards the edge and Alika closed her eyes….. when we were up in the air I said to her ''you can open your eyes to see the world we live in'' with that Alika opened her eyes and couldn't believe that she is flying with us as her body started shaking of joy and happiness as her life's dream was to roam the skies like a bird and I made it possible to experience it firsthand. She absorbed the feeling and quietly next to my ear thanked me. She saw the golden dragon looking at us feeling confused about Adeline carrying something on her back and went to the living area as we slowly descended and landed, there were now around 20-24 grown dragons and around them were 11 younglings including ours, as we landed not minding the fish dragon the younglings ran towards us greeting us and jumping at us happily as ever before. Alika was kind of scared as I felt her squeeze my neck tighter, I said to calm her '' I won't let them hurt you, you are our friend and I have much influence in this clan'' she loosened her grip on me and slide of me onto her tail and arms. As Alpha came she just looked at the golden dragon with much wonder as he looked at her the same. After a while of looking I said '' this is Alika a lonely sea dragon we found in one of our valley's full of water, she was living there for the last three days and she didn't know there were any other dragons here beside her, though she is a sea dragon she is a reptile and can live on land, I want everybody with Alpha permission to let her stay here for a few days as she is my close friend and a friend to my family.'' With that the dragons looked at Alpha and he nodded in agreement, after that they all came to her to greet her as a guest to our clan, she felt secure, warm, and fulfilled in that moment as we now were talking and playing with the kids, Alika was really fond of the kids as they all went to her so she could tell stories about her life. At first Alika didn't know what they want and looked at me at which I said '' they only want for you to tell them a story from your life, what you have been thru and your life's experiences so they could learn'' with that Alika started and we all grownups and kids alike listened to her. She told us about the dangers of the seas, about flesh eating sharks, and other dangers that lurked beneath the waves, she told us how she fought several sharks at once and different predators that tried to kill her. And then she told us the story of how life beneath the water was, we all listened carefully as she talked about how life grew near the beaches, and different beautiful fishes she has seen, all colors near coral fields, large rocks that served as homes to fish and different plant like creatures that feed of water never eating anything bigger than crabs and so small fish that you couldn't even see them. Her story continued as we all listened, it became dark and as she finished the story. Alpha got up from the ground and thanked Alika for her experiences and memories of her life in the waters, as we gathered our young at our usual spot where we sleep, I got to Alika and told her to grab on. We then went to our family spot and I put her down next to us as we all slept she watched the sun go down and I with her stayed awake to witness the first day of our friendship end and expecting many more to come. With that we went to sleep. I heard coughing that woke me up and saw Alika, struggling to get some air, I instantly knew what was going on, grabbed her and threw her on my back as she coughed I ran towards my getaway spot near the small crystal clear lake and jumped with her into the water, after she felt a bit better she thanked me, I furious almost shouting on her asked her '' why didn't you tell us about this?, you could have died and we could have been here from the start, were you worried that you wouldn't fit in if you shown us that you needed water over time to breathe?'' at that she sadly looked down as I apparently guessed right. She then said '' I don't need a lot of water but I need it to keep my lungs wet, I can survive over twenty hours without water but I guess I over estimated my time being on land and yesterdays stories took their toll at my breathing.'' At that I just said '' you could have died, please don't do this again I don't know what would I do if I lost such a dear friend, I care about you and I know you are like me.'' At that Alika looked at me and I started to tell my story about how I have been human for 26 years before I saved Kean and he brought me here, how I was turned into a dragon because my soul was of an dragon trapped in a human body, how I recently found out that I'm carrying a soul of our Alphas long lost daughter that was killed 28 years ago, and that I've been here nearly 2 years now and a lot of things happened to me. I saved a young dragons life that ate a poisonous plants and I flew over enemy territory to get the medicine plant. I found my soul mate Kean and carried his young, waited over 6 months to hatch them and nourished them, as they grew inside their shells we now had a family to think of… As Alika listened to my story she was fascinated at the events that happened to me in just two years and I wasn't quite over yet… ''well after my babies hatched we learned them to talk and named them Keanu and Layla, it was pretty unusual for a single mother to get two eggs. But Keanu was almost killed by a pack of wolves as he ventured in the forest alone, I fend of the pack of wolves but their pack Alpha was bigger and stronger, we fought hard and he bitten me then next on my neck and a part of my arm, I repaid him by turning him to ashes by my flames. But it wasn't over, Keanu was hurt and I ran out of the forest to call for help and as help came they were more worried about me as I noticed my whole left arm covered in my blood and was feeling numb, after a minute or so I fell to the ground and couldn't feel my own arm and neck but by some miracle I survived and the clan helped me as much as they could. Oh and that isn't over yet after I got better I shed my own old skin and found thicker and more agile featured skin for better movement than for brute force, after a while we had to fight the assaulting clan to defend our land and our children. I ended the battle myself by defeating their arrogant Alpha in front of his whole clan as he choked on his own blood at my feet; His clan retreated after I snapped the leader's neck and saved my clan from a lot of wounds and possible casualties. And there you happen to get in the story'' and I smiled at her. She absorbed the story and just said '' wow what a story, you sure have an interesting life'' and then Alika thought about the story and wanted to ask me something but just couldn't, I saw the question in her eyes and told her '' ok I see you have a question on your mind, tell me I promise I'll keep it between us'' at that she eagerly asked me '' do you think your Alpha could turn me into a land dragon as he did you?'' I at that wasn't really sure what to say and said'' I'll have to talk to Alpha and he will need to talk to you about this first.'' At that she seemed happy and had hope of becoming one of us, but I wasn't really sure what to make of it. I went to Alpha immediately about the matter and as I came I asked him '' do you think you could turn Alika into one of us?'' at that he looked at me with a question. ''I told her my life's story and she was fixated on the idea of me turning into a dragon.'' At that he knew everything and said '' well it one thing to turn a human with dragon soul into a full dragon but completely different thing to turn an another kind of dragon into your own kind as their souls are different, but there is a way to modify the souls of two individuals, one who would trade her legs for a tail and the other her tail for legs'' at that I looked down and heard behind me a shout, as we turned to the direction we saw one of the females running towards us as she heard the story we were discussing, when she came to us she said '' I would trade my legs for a tail'' with that we both looked at her and Alpha asked ''why would you do that?'' At that she smiled and said '' I was always a solitary dragon not wanting to settle in and I like the idea and the stories that Alika shared with us, the soundless ocean full of silence and peacefulness, and I like the idea of having a tail to swim with '' at that I said '' are you sure you want this? As you do this there is no turning back you understand this right?'' at that she nodded and Alpha said ''tomorrow is the day we change you two.'' We all knew that tomorrow was the day of the month that our shrine has enough magical power for Alpha to work with. With that we left and I went back to Alika with a happy look over my face, Alika knew that something good happened and as I came I said '' you tomorrow will get your legs and wings'' she jumped from the beach back in the water as she was really happy about it and I continued '' but there was a catch, a another dragon of our kind must be willing to give up her legs and wings for a tail and one of our females volunteered as she never fitted in with the rest of us and she liked the idea of roaming the seas until she found the rest of her kind'' at that Alika knew that another dragon was giving up her legs and her kind to be a sea dragon, at that she felt sad and asked me is that what she really wants to do with her life? Roam the seas and find her place in this world as I did with your kind and your clan?'' at that I nodded and said '' we are all looking for a way to live our lives as we see fit, and if she thinks she will find happiness with a tail instead of legs and you with legs instead of tail I think you should be happy as she will also be glad she now has the opportunity to live her life the way she pleases. At that we both went to sleep knowing that tomorrow is a great day for Alika and Cassandra, the female that wants a tail instead of legs. The sun was just about to come up and we all awakened when I saw Alika anxiously waiting in the lake for me to come take her to Alpha, I put her on my back again and Cassandra was already waiting with Alpha for me and Alika, as I put the her down I felt the power surge and moved back outside the shrine and joined everybody else in watching miracle happen again, as they were both ready now Alpha absorbed the power and channeled it, I saw their souls leave their bodies and hover over them, their souls collided and moved in shapes as they changed forms and returned to their bodies, changes almost instantly occurred, Alika's tail become smaller and more like ours, her legs sprouted and wings appeared, and then she fell to the ground unconscious. The same thing happened to Cassandra, her wings disappeared as she became larger and her legs merged into a tail as some of those scaly water fins appeared and a net between her hands then fell unconscious. As we waited for them to come back from unconsciousness we saw them slowly waking up and Cassandra was already checking her body out as it felt strange to her but she was happy, and I saw Alika trying to move her back legs in position to stand but she was having difficulties as I came and helped her get up. She looked at me and said '' how do I look, do I look different?'' I smiled and said ''you look like one of us and your sky blue color is still there with beautiful sky blue with white feathers'' at that Alika spread her wings to check them out and felt incredible joy as Cassandra felt also fulfilled and ready to test her own body. That day Cassandra was brought to the sea and we said our goodbyes as she left for the debts of the ocean. Alika was running already, jumping leaping and flying in no time as she eagerly wanted to learn how to hunt and care of children. She helped me hunt and for the first time in her life she got her pray from the sky and eaten a mammal instead of fish and it had a different taste she said but it was tasty. Her thoughts now full of future plans she asked me about everything that I gladly answered, and she felt fulfilled and for the first time in her life she felt she belonged somewhere where she had friends and family, as I did and still do, I remembered the feeling as we both watched the sun go down over the horizon and went to sleep. The next day we played with our kids while we watched over them. Alika like any new member, was babysitting with me as I watched over the kids, she played with them as I watched and decided to join them. We had so much fun and kids were having fun. Alika was truly happy to have legs and be on ground surrounded by so many different smells, so lively colors, and family most of all. I knew Alika was planning to get a mate this year as I told her stories about how we all cared about our young, I told her that I will give her a hand but she will probably refuse me and be content by caring over them. She already found herself a soul mate and they were much like when I and Kean were distanced, we both loved each other but we weren't ready to confess yet. I came to Alika as she watched her soul mate, and I told her '' you know he probably feels the same way about you, he is young and in prime of his strength dark blue male. You should go over him and pull him to side to confess your love because mating season was only two to three weeks away and u should make necessary preparations and plans. I was lucky to confess when I did when we were hunting as a group consisting of me, Sheela and Kean.'' She considered my advice and went over to him as they went into the forest I knew that they will do just fine. I thought about something, I haven't seen Sheela for a while now and I saw her greet Alika but we now were quite distanced as we had different family spots to sleep, I went to her as she was alone looking at the horizon over the ocean, I lie down beside her and asked '' you seem lonely, is something wrong?'' she looked at me and said '' well I'm not sure I think we became distanced and I was thinking about us in the past as we were inseparable'' I told her she could move her family to ours and it will be like before, at that she smiled and agreed because she was happy that I wanted her next to us as we almost never talked now and she thought she did something. As she moved beside us kids and Kean were glad to have our families again together and Alika with us as we all talked and get to know each other. Our kids were happily playing and we all were happy. We all felt like this is what it should be and that the friendships in the past were restored. We all went to sleep the moment the sun came down. Then unspeakable happened, two scouts retuned the next day in midday to warn us that the savage mountain dragons were headed towards us and are probably attacking us. We all heard the roar for a meeting, we knew Alpha heard about the report and set our battle formations and plan, Kean and Sheela with Alika guarded the kids in the safe tunnel. I went to my family to greet them if something happens and kids ran towards me frightened that they will lose me, I comforted them and looked Kean in the eyes as he was worried so I just said to Alika and Kean '' you Kean are still restoring your former strength and Alika I'm sorry but you don't have enough battle on land experiences so I put you under the charge of Sheela who is also protecting the kids, ok?'' at that Kean just watched me and said '' be careful'' while Alika knew that it was a wise choice. As I went to the battlefield the other dragons respectfully under my command were with me, I said to everybody to composure yourself in a deadly fashion not arousing any enemy to charge, just to frighten them with our calmness before the battle and concentrated minds, and I made a speech '' We might not be this lucky like last time that we avoided combat and I just want you to concentrate on this, we live to protect what is dear to us, and that are our children and our home, if we are to die today, we die with proud notion in our heads that we did what we could and that we didn't disappoint anybody as we gave our lives to protect them and to protect our way of life. And if you are likely to be killed with a serious injury return to the safe house and protect the kids as you would more likely hinder us in our attack, don't try being a hero, as you would maybe do us more harm than good, access the situation in which you now are and with reason determine what are you doing at the time, the main point is to work as a group of two, and with calm mind make a tactic to take down the enemy. ''We all knew what to do actually as we were practicing the battle formations during our hunting for the clan, and we knew how to fast immobilize the enemy for rest to take care of them so we could strike as most effective as we could, as every missed opportunity grants more time for the enemy to make a better offensive and take us down. ''At all cost protect your partners back and progress as a group so they can't outflank us. Use flames with caution and use it as a dual or more combos of flames to take the enemy down faster.'' As I finished my speech about battle tactics and battle formations I saw on the ledge with a sky force there was Alpha ready to challenge their leader. We waited about an hour and some were uneasy so we calmed them down as we needed not to show fear, and any sign of weakness would maybe encourage the enemy force to strike us down quick. As we were now all determined and were calm as we were taught, the sight of no feeling at all, no fear, no rage, not anything in front of the enemy was more horrifying than most to the tactics and our clan was well know for our battle mastery and that tactic alone, most of the enemy thought that they wouldn't be terrified of us if we showed no feeling at all, but one thing is to say it and think it and the completely other to stare at us as we were deadly serious and calm, we were named the silent reapers among dragon clans as we were effective and calm, and after every kill enemy would more and more believe that we were really death carriers for them if they stand in our way. As we waited we saw them coming in almost by half than ours larger force. We were ready to face the music of battle and we didn't falter at the sight of them. As the enemy descended and landed on the pasture. They split their main force into two groups a larger one for the ground battle and a smaller but larger than ours sky force for a sky battle. They all hissed and roared towards us as we kept our calm composure. We saw the clan ambassador and his two body guards come to the main field, I noted the dragon beside me to come with me as we always work in groups against even five enemies even if there are only two of us. As we came the ambassador started to talk '' will you peacefully leave your land and leave in peace without the bloodshed as we only want the land and we mean to take it by force if necessary…'' with that I just looked at him and said '' we have no intentions of leaving our home and that you should return the message to your clan leader that you will lose this fight '' with that ambassador laughed and said '' if u didn't notice we have almost as twice a larger force than you have'' I just smiled and noted the dragon beside me as a sing to attack, my partner in battle leapt towards the ambassador and took down one of his bodyguards and in the middle of the moment I sliced the ambassadors chest, and bitten him on his neck, and as fast as all that happened I took my claw on the young male bodyguard left as he didn't know what just happened himself , so I asked him '' you seem young for a bodyguard, will you peacefully leave or should I slice you right here and now'', his courage turned to fear in just two seconds and he nodded in agreement as everybody from the enemy side saw the moment take about 3 seconds to execute and three male dragons were incapacitated by a female and a male. As I pushed the young male I spared towards the ground I looked at the main force stopped hissing and roaring when we executed our tactic, they were now more convinced in the rumors that we really are the highly know and feared death reapers, as I turned to join my main force I knew what will happen….. The male I spared charged at me with his mind brainwashed from the teachings that he will help his clan. I just with a fast maneuver and a dodge as fast as he tried to kill me, he stopped 1 feet from me frozen, everybody thought he got me and saw closer at my claw, it was drenched in his blood and they knew he was dead from the moment they saw him fall. The fear clouded over their mind as I kept my eyes closed during the kill and the site of a life wasted like that. I opened my eyes as I faced the main force and they shivered at the glance of me and my main force slightly moving forward to suppress them and make them insecure, their clan leader tried to calm the backing force as some of them charged at us with roars, everybody soon followed and air force lifted in the air. I roared as a signal to start the hunt, everybody split in two dragon cells and we crushed the most of the first wave of enemy dragons that rushed into us, we soon formed the barrier and slowly progressed hunting single dragons that went astray from the groups of enemies and pushed and stopped still like in a protection barrier, we were now all covered from the blood of our enemy as the enemy collected their force together they saw bodies of their friends under our feet if not dead, they were dying. Three of our dragons left the battlefield with wounds to go help protect the young, the enemy saw what we were doing, we were saving our wounded and prepared for our main force to push. We backed away a bit and I stood still and said '' this is your last warning, we told you that we will destroy your force, and the rest is free to leave as we will not pursue if they choose to save their lives, if u don't back away now and retreat, the next wave will result in total annihilation with no captives or survivors kept alive.'' We then saw dragons falling from the skies above us, our force prevailed and they will join us in our main attack if they don't retreat. At that enemy was sure they lost even if they had mostly equal force left to fight us, and some turned and left the battlefield as their Alpha shouted at them, then he jumped in front of the first wave as they now had a lesser force, and was ready to charge, enemy got their morale back as they prepared to attack our main force lined up with me so we lowered our heads like we were hunting. we instantly changed our tactic to using our three dragon cell and annihilation battle plan, the enemy Alpha charged at us as well as the rest of his main force and as they came near us we all simultaneously as one body burst our flames and ignite the pasture with such an overwhelming attack that most of their force in an instant perished between the flames as rest stopped at the nearing flames and tried to outrun them but it was too late and they died within them. We dispersed into our squads and continued to hunt the remaining force and as we did, we killed every surviving member of their clan on the battlefield, there was minimal casualties and maximum effectiveness in our battle plan, and we knew that if we let anyone live our battle tactic would be compromised and in the future, clans we would fight would have the information on us on how to take us down. We ended the day with only 5 serious injuries, 16 slight injuries and no casualties. It was an overwhelming victory for our clan as we completely wiped out the entire clans main force and they would be as good as dead if we attacked them now in this state. As Alpha came down he told me and the two other dragons to accompany me while I flew to their clan and told them what happened. We agreed and instantly went in their clan's direction. As we flew there we saw the survivors and came to them with no intent of hostility and as we flew near I shouted '' we have no intentions of killing or pursuing you, your main force is dead, they all died and we are the message carriers for your clan. At that the one of the survivors asked me '' so everybody is dead? Nobody survived?'' I shook my head as to indicate that nobody survived. I then said '' you were the lucky ones and you shouldn't feel bad for retreating, or abandoning the main force as they were bound to die the moment the alpha didn't see that we overpowered them. You now have a chance to return to your families and live to see another day, and I'll point out that you chose to live and nobody else, and now that you have another chance to live again, be sure to spend the life as peacefully as u can as we don't attack we only defend.'' With that they looked at me and so did my companions on the wise words I said and they felt relief as they now looked forward to seeing their families again. We flew into their territory descended and landed in front of their children and families. They saw us and crossed the paths for the children to run to their returning father's and watched us, as I spoke to them '' these are the only returning survivors from the battle, that chose to retreat and return to their families and they are the sole survivors from the main force that attacked our clan, we came here to say this, we are not an aggressive clan we only defend our young and leave no survivors after the initial wave if the opposing clan's Alpha doesn't see that we already won. This whole mess and meaningless deaths are the fault of your clan Alpha. We suffered no losses only five serious injuries and we say again we won't attack your clan and we even offer protection until your clan can stand by its own again.'' At that there were a lot of sad dragons as they knew their loved ones died and it was all the fault of their Alpha. The dominant female approached me and said '' we appreciate the offer but we will need to decline it, if we can't hold our own we don't even deserve to live and for the surviving dragons, we thank you for letting them live.'' With that everything was said and we left them alone, we went back to our clan. When we got back everybody greeted us and congratulated me on my triumph win, though Alpha was the clan leader I was the commander or coordinator of the main force and with tactics and battle plans we altogether developed we were indestructible. Meeting was shortly called and we all headed towards Alpha's place, when we got there Alpha congratulated us all on a daring victory but one of the dragons which is seriously hurt won't make it until sundown, the rest of the injured dragons are going to fully recover. We all felt sad at that moment and decided to all together go to him before he died. When we got there he saw us come and we sat around him in circles, while the clan most talented singer started reciting the war song:

_All those who have fallen, we honor them,_

_All those that gave their lives shall be sang, remembered in our hearts,_

_For all who you have saved, you have a hundred more that follow,_

_You won't be forgotten as you are one of our saviors; we will recite the stories of our battles,_

_And as we sang we remember the fallen, you maybe are dying but you are not truly dead,_

_For every life you today saved we all carry you in our soul, we know the deeds you did_

_And they reflect the clan's greatness, for every enemy dragon you slain,_

_You saved more than two, go in peace brave warrior_

_As we are all grateful, that you gave your life for us_

With that reciting stopped and the dying dragon with a smile went to sleep from which he will never awaken. We placed him on the highest peak of our valley overlooking the sea, and we made a bed out of wood and dry hay. At the last moment before we all parted the dead dragon, one of our own, we all got to him and brushed off his head as the last goodbye we would ever give him. We then put him on the wood and hay and lighted up the hay which slowly burnt the dragons body, we waited with closed eyes reciting the song in our heads for safe passage for his soul, as there was only ashes left on the ridge the ocean wind swooped the remains of the brave warrior and his ashes scoured across the sea with the wind. We all went to our families and I saw Sheela, Alika, Kean, Keanu and Layla waiting for me. Then we went to our family spots and went to sleep.

End of chapter four

Chapter Five

Guidance and Parenthood

It took two or less days to get our clan back to its feet after the harsh and brutal to body and mind battle. Then we mostly returned to the way it always was, smiling, happy we are alive. During the next week was the soul mating, when every young dragon if he or she found her soul mate, make a commitment and conceive their young. I was happy for Alika because her mate was willing to make a commitment when the time comes and she would have her young someday. The next few days I knew that soul mating began as young females had stronger odors from raging hormones. Alpha as usual called us for a meeting to inform every young female that the soul mating began and that he wishes all the dragons best of luck in finding their mate. I knew Alika's day has come and I saw them go alone by themselves and knew they were mated for life. I brushed against Kean as we looked at the young dragons remembering how it was for us when it happened. And short while after we got Keanu and Layla. I looked at my children grow and grow. I knew the day would come for them to have their own young. And hopefully I would be there to witness them grow. Passing days became weeks which become months and before we even knew 3 months has passed. The time has come for the new mothers to lay their eggs, we the older females were in charge of tending to the young females and helping them while we watched the kids. Alika was scared when I got to her, so I stayed beside her. When the time came it pretty much happened like the day it happened to me, she woke up in pain and soon as she figured what was wrong she has laid an egg. I of course stayed beside her for the whole time while my kids were playing around us and they were interested on how they also came to this world. I comforted Alika as she was now feverish and went to sleep from exhaustion. The next day when she woke up her mate brought her meat so she can eat and regain her strength. I touched with my muzzle once in a while Alika egg to see if it was still hot. Alika mostly figured out how to breathe fire by a sneeze, at which I just laughed and said at her first flames '' well your fire breathing is improving and is developing nicely, in no time you will be ready to keep the egg warm.'' At that Alika smiled and tried to get the flames to work. I just watched her and her egg and knew that she will be a great mother much like me. She finally figured out how to breathe fire and kept her egg warm for the rest of the day. I on the other hand knew that everything will be fine now and that she now knew what to do as I instructed her before she laid her egg. I returned to Kean and we watched our kids play with small young dragons as their time will soon come. I joined Sheela as we went to a little field trip with our kids to teach them about plants, wildlife, and singing. At first Layla and Keanu were bored because they already knew much about the wildlife and plants as we usually went to the forest. But they got interested about the singing part. As we walked near the shoreline, I and Sheela began to sing about the sea, land, our clan, and love towards our young. At first Keanu, Layla and Atka just listened to us sing as they found it soothing and peaceful. In the distance as we came near the clan home, other females heard us singing and they joined in. all the kids just listened to us sing and soon fell asleep.


End file.
